angeandbella

this seems to be the car in the other thread (link above) that most people either have or prefer, although the mitsubishi outlander seems good too. I'm probably getting way ahead of myself here I am just so excited (& a bit nervous) that I'm going to FINALLY have a job! & I'm going to work my little ass off to keep it! Our Honda Jazz is brilliant. The back seats fold completely flat, and our two large goldens can stretch out and lie completely flat if they want to. The hatch means we could add a ramp later on, and there are even rings at the sides for us to tether their car harnesses to. Perfect dog car, and still REALLY low fuel consumption.

I wouldn't use him again, either for training or for boarding, however my experience was around 14 years ago for the training, and maybe 6-7 years ago for boarding. When we did our obedience training with him, he was using choke chains and negative reinforcment, neither of which really worked outside the class environment for my girl. However, it WAS a long time ago and probably he has changed his training methods since then. When I picked my girl up from boarding for 8 days, she was really withdrawn and actually spent the first few days of being home in the very furtherest corner of my yard -- didn't even want to come inside. However, again, I feel it's a little unfair to compare this with my two other experiences of boarding her, when she had my other dog to keep her company as well. So I don't think that really helps at all...

Hi, MEH. I'm probably being dense, but I can't seem to find the method/article on that website -- can you offer any help?

Just in case anyone is interested, we took both dogs to a trainer/behaviourist on Friday. She was amazing! It was a one hour session (although she ended up giving us more like an hour and a half) in a lovely secure area. Initially our dogs were more interested in exploring, but once they settled they proceeded to give an excellent example of EXACTLY the behaviours they are doing at home. The summary -- IT'S ALL OKAY! It's all friendly play (even though it is far more physical than any play I have been used to seeing my dogs do). She encouraged us to sit down and just watch and monitor, and we found that the dogs naturally programmed their own breaks into their play. She also said that we seemed to be doing all the right things, so THANK YOU EVERYONE for your advice and support! Another technique she suggested was to pat lots of attention to our dogs when they are calm, rather than when they are going bananas playing. We have continued to work on recall games and general obedience and manners for both dogs. Keba was back to his gentlemanly-self on his walk today, and we've found the squeaker toy to be a great interrupter for him. Casper is like a sponge for new information. He learns so fast that I'm worried that we are trying to teach too much! In less than a week, he has learnt his name, recall, sit, drop, roll over, shake paws, off. He has learnt to climb stairs and is learning to walk on a lead. We are getting lots of exposure to lots of new and different stimuli, and he will often stop and think about these experiences, and then investigate. He is quite self-possessed! Of course, we are also learning about a new way to puppy-proof our house every day, so the training is going both ways. Casper has become quite the expert counter-surfer in just a few days. Any suggestions? He is still jumping up on occasion, too, for attention...we are using the ignore technique with some success, but I feel this is an area where patience will be required. We start Toddler Taming classes next Thursday. Can't wait! Our lives have completely revolved around our dogs for almost a week, now. Time management is certainly going to be an issue once we are both back at work! Thanks again, everyone.

Thank you! You are so right about conditioning the names. We are already seeing improvements, but will continue to work. We are finding it enormously helpful with everything as our puppy starts stealing, chewing, and counter surfing! And thanks for the advice about the humping -- glad to have it confirmed that we should be discouraging that! We've organised Toddler Taming for Casper (the puppy) starting next Thursday. In the interim, we have also organised a single private lesson with both dogs, which is tomorrow.

How did you teach the gentle command? I wish we could divide our yard -- it would give us so much more flexibility in the short term. Thank you so much for your comment.

Thank you! This is very helpful. Why legs rather than faces? The puppy nips at the older dog's undercarriage, too, particular when he is trying to hump the puppy. We noticed today a number of reddened areas like welts on Keba's belly -- quite worrying for us as Keba tends to lick and lick at any sores and can turn the tiniest itch into a raging hot spot within 24 hours. We are doing recall games at home, will definitely keep going. I love this game as much as our dogs do! Do you recommend using a positive interrupter if they don't respond to being called? Or will this teach them that they don't have to come straight away because another command is coming? Will rotate toys, too. Noticed today that Keba had regressed a bit on his walk and had gone back to pulling a bit on the leash -- something he hasn't done for AGES. We went back to all our loose leash techniques and he settled down by half way around. Testing boundaries? We are lucky in having at least one of us home for the next two weeks. Had hoped to be able to leave them alone together by the end of that time -- perhaps I need to lower my expectations. Quite prepared to change the plan if we need to -- I want safe, happy dogs and no stress for myself when I am away from them!

Thank you! I really, really appreciate your response! 45-90mins? I've been getting worried MUCH earlier than that. Possibly I am just being paranoid? Although it does seem like VERY mouthy play to me and I'm worried that my puppy is developing bad habits. he apparently missed puppy school (he was rehomed to us at 16 weeks due to not being fit for showing with his previous owner?), so I don't know what sort of manners to expect from him, and how restrictive I should be. ETA: we will be booking into Toddler Taming classes at the local vet as soon as a place opens. we already have our name down. It IS just play, there are wagging tails and excited faces everywhere, but both dogs end up with saturated ears from being mouthed so much. Our adult dog plays with other adults at the dog beach and at doggy day play, and never seems to make any mouth contact at all...so this is different. Am I being overly concerned? Is this just part of them working out their boundaries with each other? Very good tip about not always separating them I think...there was one instance today when the puppy did not respond to being called over and I wonder if that was the reason...although they had kind of descended into being absolutely bonkers by that time and really weren't paying any attention to us at all. We've focused on dual training (sit, drop, off/leave it, recall) and calming exercises today -- I think it's helping a little and it's definitely giving me a bit more confidence. They are enjoying Kongs together, too. One more question -- if they DON'T respond to being called over, is it right to wade in and grab their collars? Or should I just keep calling and up the rewards for coming? Is this potentially one of the signs we should have given them a break a little sooner? We tried leaving the leads on initially but it seemed like they were causing more problems with the dogs stepping and rolling on them and nearly strangling themselves. And one other factor I didn't mention -- the puppy still has abdominal stitches (due out Thursday). These forums and the people on them are wonderful. I've been reading through a lot of past posts and learning so much-- there are some great ideas!

Thank you so much for your response. We are looking for a pen today. I think that sounds like a great idea, as sometimes the older dog is showing signs of wanting to rest, but the puppy wants to keep playing; and sometimes it's the other way around. What should I look for to tell me when I should separate them? Should I look for the above (i.e. when one dog starts to try and break away), or for overexcitement, or just impose a general time limit? How do you separate them? Today I've had some success with calling and asking them both to sit -- they will settle for about five minutes and then start playing again. Both dogs seem to respond well to training individually, but so far it feels a bit chaotic when they are both together! I did wake up this morning and find them curled up together on the same bed, though.

Hi there! We have just got a 4 month old male golden retriever puppy. We also have a 5 year old male of the same breed. They introduced well and showed no aggressiveness. However, their play sessions are extremely physical and I am concerned that one may be accidently injured. How much is too much? How do we keep control of their play and give it structure? The puppy actually breaks away from play when called better than our older dog, but the older dog I think is showing signs of trying to achieve dominace such as humping. They are both desexed. Any help or advice VERY gratefully appreciated! xx