neo2011

This is quite normal and some dogs are alot worse than others. Just lots of calm talking to your dog and try not to cuddle her when she whines as this will only reinforce the behaviour. Also the crying/whining when being left alone is to be expected as it will be her first time being separated from her litter. Are you leaving her in a crate of some sort? Also what treats are you using? Maybe try something smellier like cheese? ANd if she prefers her kibble, then use that as a treat. Over time, she will open up and become more confident. It might take a month or more for her to settle in her new environment, but be patient and just lots of praise when she is coming towards you. Also try to make it fun! Good luck with the new addition

That's great to hear that she's doing much better. Just out of curiosity, what causes bladder infections?

If the dog is doing it in the same spot constantly, make sure you remove all the scent from the area as well. I use water and floor cleaner plus a drop of this product called "nilodour" (purchased from Coles). Works great and eliminates all smells. Also I found that my pup kept making at least one mistake at the same spot everyday (on a towel/rug which we wash and change if he makes an accident on it) and we got sick of washing it everytime so we just removed it and it has woked out alot better. Apparently they also like peeing on absorbent surfaces so you might want to think about that too. Other than that, I hope your pup just had a bad day and its not a UTI.

Half clam shell is a great idea! Don't think I can fence off my garden bed as there's a fair bit as it goes right around my property for aesthetics and practicality reasons. Oskar, where did you go to get one of those sandpits and how much are they roughly? I know what you mean Sheena...I wish there were more strangers I can practice his "no jumping" behaviour with. I think next time we have guests over, I will have to tell them what to do before they walk in the door. Sometimes my pup will sit on all fours then when we go to reward him with pats, he starts jumping again out of excitement..silly pup.

Thanks for the inputs. The main problem is not with him jumping. We've trained him not to go in the garden bed as it is "out of bounds" and he understands this. If he lurks in there, we say "out" and he knows to move to the other side (we see him walking right on the edge of the lawn for the past 6 weeks we've had him). But this time I discovered him in the garden bed and I said "out" and he just stood there looking at me. Then I discovered he's dug a hole in there but I dind't reprimand him for that since I didn't catch him in the act. He just ran off but up and down the garden bed even though I kept saying "out". Then to top it off, he went back to his hole and dug there and I said "no" firmly and he went again running around in the garden bed not listening to the "out" command I've given him. He just kept going back and forth from running around and digging not listening to the "no" or "out" command. I then eventually turned around and walked towards the house and that's when he stopped. I figured he must've thought it was a game (that's why I didn't want to chase him around). I usually turn around and ignore the jumping anyway but being a puppy, its hard for him to restrain his excitement at times. Its not a big problem as pups will be pups..but it was a question about teaching a dog consequences in regards to disobedience and how you guys go about it (and at what age). FYI: I was just doing some reading just now on this forum and found this post by K9Pro: http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/117592-puppy-development-calender/ • Selective deafness? (5-9 Months) It's no surprise to see puppies pretend not to hear your known commands at this age. It's at this age we introduce more formal training including consequences for disobedience. I guess maybe I found my answer?

My 15 week old puppy is good at most times, however sometimes he will not listen to a stern "no". I have never smacked him or punished him as he is too young and do the whole diversion and get him interested in something else. However, I was wondering at what age should you teach a pup that there are consequences if they are repeatedly disobedient. I was told in a training class I attended with my pup that if they are constantly jumping on guests, what she does is tell the dog "no" then leash him to something and ignored for 2mins. But I'm unsure if at his age that is too young (or if he will associate the punishment with the "crime"). I was also told to do the whole rolled up newspaper trick which doesn't hurt the dog, but creates a loud noise. What are your thoughts on this??

My previous cattle dog was great and never really chewed on anything we didn't want him to. But my current Kelpie is a little different...he wants to chew on everything. I have noticed that as he got older, he is starting to prefer harder chew toys and anything that has a "gummy" feel to it. Maybe get those fake bones? I also picked up a thing called "Texan T-Bone" from Big W for about $10 and its supposed to be flavoured (but made of safe plastic..dunno how that works) and my pup loves chewing on it. Good luck and don't leave anything too valuable within reach of your teething pup!

Agree with the hot water bottle and also get a polar fleece blanket. I picked one up from K-Mart for $3..absolute bargain. Just sleep with it for a few nights to get your scent on it and you dog will like it even more.

For those that are feeding capsules and breaking them into the food..is there any research that says the omega 3's will lose their potency when exposed to air for long periods of time? My dog sometimes doesn't finish his food quick enough and some gets left for next day. I know flaxseed oil is highly reactive to light and fouls up once exposed. Not sure if fish oil has similar problems??

Today I took my pup for a walk and he was absolutely great on the leash. He was walking beside me, not pulling and very attentive. I found that the best way to train your dog is to make sure it is sufficiently hungry and try to use that as a motivational tool (make sure you have high value treats as well..in my case, I used beef mince). Of course don't do anything silly and starve your pup for days!! I even left him off leash with people around him and one dog about 30m away from him and did some sit and stay commands while I walked 10m away. He's not as good as at home, but I was pleasantly surprised. Its always good to see some sort of improvement!! However, last week I took him to the dog park not to play, but to train and walk around it and he was quite badly distracted and kept wanting to run off to play. I guess I just need to slowly build up the distractions and to also make sure he's a little hungrier so he will focus on me to get the treats. I'll stick to it and hopefully he will get better. One "annoying" thing is that alot of people (especially women) are attracted to him and have that high pitched "heelllooo puppy!!" and my dog just goes beserk trying to get to them for pats. Then the females come and pat him - rewarding his unsettled and jumping behaviour

Thanks for all the input guys. I take Neo up to 3 dog parks a week. He's cautious with larger dogs and we always scope the dogs out first before letting him in. If there are aggressive or badly behaved dogs, we don't go in there or leave early. I took him for a walk today and he's definitely better than he was say 2 weeks ago. He is so distracted by people, noises, leaves, smells, etc that it can take up to 45mins to go around the block. I'm just trying to teach him loose leash walking and also tought him the "heel" command which he now follows (big surprise to me how quick he picked it up!! - so proud). But this was all at lower level of distractions. I was just a little embarrassed how he was pretty much the only pup in training class that kept jumping around and pulling on leash to try to get to the other puppies while the other dogs just sat there quietly...either there's really good pups in my class or Neo is just out of control. Its a good idea to organise a play date with a boring dog...we tried that but the boring dog just ended up face humping my boy.. He also has a bad habit of pestering dogs that don't want to play with him, constantly pawing and jumping on them (even if they growl at him). I usually try to get in there and get him away before it escalates further. But last time at a puppy preschool class, Neo and another dog got a little agressive and I went to break it up but the trainer said I should've left him alone?

How do you know he's toileting in his crate because of anxiety then? Because we always take him out to the toilet before we crate him and when we crated him for as short as 10mins, he would mess up his crate and pee and poop everywhere. When he's calm (and we're there), he is happy to sit in there and sleep for up to 2hrs without a toilet break (sometimes even with the door left open). As mentioned in previous post, he will also do the same when left alone in the house for 15mins and we will come back with a big mess (we don't do that anymore!).

I have a 13 week old Kelpie and when we got him when he was 8 weeks old, he was fearful of people as well as dogs. We've overcomed the problem of people and now he's getting pretty good with dogs too as we take him to dog parks alot. The problem we are starting to see is that now when we take him to training classes or puppy school, he is SOOO distracted and pulling at the leash to try and play with the other dogs during training session. He is more interested in other dogs than me. We can get his attention for a little while if we call his name and lure away with food, but then 5 seconds later, he's back at it trying to get to the other pups. I attribute this problem to my own fault of taking him to dog parks too often to play and he now thinks everytime he sees a dog, its playtime. I've now decided not to go to dog parks anymore to get his focus back on me and just take him for leash walks. What should I do now to let him learn that everytimne he sees a dog, its not playtime (without my permission). And is there any way I can "reward" him if he's good to allow him a short play session at the park? (and a way for him to link good behaviour with me allowing him to play with other dogs) or should I just avoid dog parks all together? Everytime I take him to a dog park, I do get him to sit and be calm before I release him off leash and give him the release word "ok"...but I feel like I've done some damage to his training...any suggestions?

Thanks for the comments on Neo's good looks. We get alot of that when people realise he's a Kelpie and not some sort of Collie mix. Covering with a blanket doesn't seem to work for long periods as he pulls it into his cage (sometimes he just does it for fun even when he is not crying). Lately we've been leaving him outside the house for short periods of time and slowly building it up from there. He's fairly quiet if I'm gone for 20mins, but you can see him getting a little freaked out and trying to look for us. I did put more stuffed toys in his crate. I found a large stuffed toy from Coles for $5 (bargain!) and he loves it. I just made sure we slept with it for one night to put our scent on there. He's getting better as well as we have been gone for a few hours with him being crated without him making too much of a fuss and no soiling of his bed. Hopefully it was something as simple as making it more comfy. Here's a pic of his crate now that is more of a comfy nest for him: ALso as suggested by other people, we should work towards leaving him in the backyard when we're gone for extended periods of time. We have a kennel that I have assembledm, but should we get him used to it inside the house first for a few days then move it outside? Or should we just get it straight out outside? The thing is that when we leave him outside, he's not interested in anything (treats, toys, etc) as he's just pacing around looking for us or sitting by the door (very quietly though which is good) waiting for us to arrive back. My worry is that he will just ignore the kennel. Perhaps if we associate it with a safe, secure place for him while it is inside, he will notice it once its moved outside? Also to answer your question MEH, he won't soil in front of me in his crate as he doesn't have anxiety if I'm there (and he's sits or sleeps quietly in his crate if we're there in his sight/smell range). Its only when we leave him alone. He is also obedience trained from day one we had him. Also one more question...do you guys leave a water bowl in your dog's crate at all times if he is being crated for longer than an hour? Neo is a heavy drinker and seems to drink lots and lots of water throughout the day.

Crate training is supposed to speed up toilet training as well as it teaches them to soil at the right place (outside). Just make sure the crate isn't too big (just block off a section with wood if you have to) otherwise he will sleep in one end and eliminate on the other (which does not teach any lessons in toilet training). It is supposed to also teach them about accepting boundaries and limitations and if you have to leave them unsupervised to go out, wouldn't you want them crated knowing he is safe and not destroying your furniture or worse still, choking on something? Its similar to leaving a child in a playpen. I would do crate training if I were you and good luck with your new pup!