suziwong66

My two norty brown dawgs: Wilbur Woo (5yo) on the left and Laikey Loo on the right who is 2 tomorrow.

We've used Urine-off with my boy's inside repeat accidents; works well and didn't have any repeats after we used it.

When we were looking for both our labs, we opted for an out of state breeder. When we looking in Adelaide for the first one, we couldn't find anyone with pups at the time. Next time around we opted for the same breeder. Don't be afraid to go out of state looking for a well bred Lab pup.

I'm super super happy with Laikey (dog reactive). We've been working with Amy from Advanced Behavioural Training for a few months now. This past week, at the facility, Laikey approached Amy's crated dogs, by choice and didn't bark. She then happily worked with Amy at the front of the crates. Today at home, we've been packing for the move. Some friends came over to help and brought their mini foxy who was crated a metre away from where Laikey was crated. Laikey didn't bark when she heard Roxy the Foxy. Additionally, when i took Laikey out to eat dinner, she needed to walk past Roxy's crate. As she was walking past, she stopped happily to have a look (knowing Roxy was in there) and didn't bark. Roxy barked the house down as soon as Laikey came super close. At that point Laikey did bark as she was becoming excited about dinner. She walked past into the kitchen and managed to settle herself quite well and focus on me. I'm now looking at finding a behaviourist in Brisbane to continue working with Laikey so the ground isn't lost in her training. Even though she barked at Roxy, it was only after Roxy barked; a month ago she would have barked at Roxy as soon as she smelled her in the house! Super pleased mama here

Q1. Yes you can teach toilet on command and use it sometimes but if you don't use it they will lose it - learned behaviours are like muscles; they need to be exercised. I teach and use it with both my dogs; they take themselves out to toilet when they want, but at night or getting into the car, I get them to evacuate on command. I spend the first six months, taking puppy outside on a lead to toilet to teach evacuate on command. We live in a house; the dogs have inside and outside access. Q2. I train for neutral value for strangers with both my labs; it's been an utter failure because people will not leave us alone when we're out and about. I mat train so my dogs have a place to sit and a job to do when we're out at cafe's etc. The dogs are good in that they will sit with us and stay; unfortunately it's other people that i have no control over; calling the dogs to them; coming to the table for pat etc etc I have harnesses/jackets for my dogs asking people to ignore them - they often read the wording while they're trying to get access to the dogs One guy even told me he can pat my dog if he wants; i told him where to go fairly quickly. It takes time and commitment to train for the behaviours you want - I would suggest a good training facility/club for support.

Ordered a second Royal crate this morning - they really are high quality. So i'll be selling Wilbur's current xtra large crate. If anyone in Adelaide wants a cheap 'in good condition, red/burgundy soft crate from PetStock, PM me. I'm happy to let it go for $50.

is it enough to wash your dog's bowls each day? I don't bring their bowls in each night, but i wash them with hot water and detergent each night before they eat.

duh, totally unnecessary post

i only did a very cursory search and the only place i found them was eBay

Hey wow!!! Aren't you a sweety sw66 I had no idea you were a DOLer and just spotted your thread. So lovely to refresh my screen and see this thread. Thank you :) I gather you probably were not even aware we are K9+ ?? :D After reading your reply, I vaguely remember that someone mentioned, on the search threads i read, that k9+ were on DOL but it went from my mind pretty quick and i had no thought of it when i posted; that said I didn't know who exactly was k9+ on DOL anyways My only problem now is that Wilbur at 31 kg has decided that he likes Laikey's new smaller crate and she takes exception to him helping himself; she then tries to wedge herself in with him. They are a pair of idiots

We ordered a large soft crate and bag for Laikey so that she has her own soft crate during the move to Brisbane. I did a DOL search on soft crates a few weeks ago and read through the threads - their were two crates that were overwhelmingly touted as being the best quality: K9 Pro and K9+. K9 Pro didn't have any on their website so i assume they aren't selling them anymore. I went directly to k9+'s website and ordered one earlier in the week; it arrived this afternoon. Can't quibble with the price when you see the obvious difference of quality in comparison to Wilbur's unbranded soft crate that we bought (in a last minute hurry) several years back from Petstock. From memory, Wilbur's crate cost significantly more (it's a size bigger than Laikey's too). The royale also has two sides that open; Wilbur's only has one. I'm really considering purchasing one for Wilbur too and then selling on his current crate. I love how the Royale has the velcro and metal hole to allow the use of a water bottle! If anyone is looking for a high quality crate I can highly recommend the K9+ Royale - shipping is included in the price of the crate.

fabulous video and game!

i use a 5 point police leash and clip it so that there'a loop that i can wear across my body like wearing a satchel with a long strap. I have two of them; i wear the leash with my 5yo male lab so he's handsfree and hold the leash with my 2 yo bitch. I need to be able to 'park' the leash with her because she's reactive as soon as she even smells another dog nearby. You can also clip it so it's around your waist.

we've had some of what you've experienced but our problems with our 19 month bitch originated from people behaviour inappropriately when we were out and about socialising from a very young age - I am guessing that some of these incidents occurred during her fear periods. Her confidence has been seriously eroded and we now work with a behaviourist to help with the fear, anxiety and reactivity. I am not suggesting your situation is the same; i'm just sharing our experiences. Our girl is fine with strangers when we're out and about until they stop and stare giving her direct eye contact; then she reacts by barking. We are currently working on getting her to relax a little more and have taught her a 'greet' command with a built in default that she can come back to the heel any time she wants. She is not obliged to do anything other than touch the person's hand when it's offered after she's been released with the greet command. We do this with everyone that comes into the house as well. Had i the advantage of hindsight, i would have consulted a behaviourist earlier to help her relax more. As for other dogs...she is still reacting but is coming down from her reactive state much quicker. We currently don't allow anyone to approach us with their dog - we are working toward that with our behaviourist but are a long way from that goal as yet. I am somewhat confident that we will reach our goals as she's displaying behaviour that indicates she wants to interact with strange dogs but she's not confident enough to do so. I am hoping that once she has some more controlled interactions that are positive in outcome her fear will allay somewhat and her confidence will build. We no longer allow treats when our girl is in an anxious state as it's way too easy to reward and reinforce the behaviour - at this point in her treatment we allow her to react and help her calm down and then once she's calmed down we give her a treat. We have the advantage of having another dog that is quite laid back so when she's reacting and he's sitting nicely, i treat him heavily - she often will control her reactivity and then focus on the treats he is getting. Once she calms herself, we treat her. I am not afraid to say that i was inadvertently reinforcing her reactivity by using treats to distract her when they weren't doing a very good job of distracting her. Our behaviourist has been really helpful in helping me identify my own behaviours. If you are unsure, my recommendation is to find yourself a good trainer and/or behaviourist to help guide you. All my previous dogs have been super laid back and were capable of getting over hiccoughs easily; this young bitch is my first really challenging dog and I wish i had of gotten help/guidance earlier because her anxiety and reactivity is now outside of my skill set to manage independently. Good luck i hope all works out for you and your boy.

I think I know the one. If so yes very active in show circles, 'top' breeders, big winners, judges even if I'm not mistaken, but big failure at boarding from every one I've ever talked to that have used them and a person I knew went for a job interview and walked out! I'm sure there are great dog people running great facilities but there are some that seem to rely heavily on 'reputation' they don't match with service Sounds like the one - i boarded Wilbur with them once; never again. Rats ate through the food container i gave them, he was a filthy mess when he came out. The dogs were all just left in a large dust bowl of a yard all day long and as we left they made a snarky comment about Wilbur. Get your facts right before you criticise. All kennels have concrete runs. I suggest you go and have a look at the web site I put up. Then apologise. i think you might have your wires crossed; we weren't talking about the kennels of the link you were posting - we were talking about an SA kennels that used to be in business.

I think I know the one. If so yes very active in show circles, 'top' breeders, big winners, judges even if I'm not mistaken, but big failure at boarding from every one I've ever talked to that have used them and a person I knew went for a job interview and walked out! I'm sure there are great dog people running great facilities but there are some that seem to rely heavily on 'reputation' they don't match with service Sounds like the one - i boarded Wilbur with them once; never again. Rats ate through the food container i gave them, he was a filthy mess when he came out. The dogs were all just left in a large dust bowl of a yard all day long and as we left they made a snarky comment about Wilbur.

have you had direct experience with them okway? i only ask because i've used a kennel owned and operated by dog people that are fully active in the dog world here in Adelaide and i'd never use them again - in fact, i'd go as far as to say they shouldn't be in the pet boarding business. If you've had experience with them and could give me a little more info about what you like about them, i'd be grateful. taa

Thanks ESCS - knowing Samford has dealt with your anxious dog really well makes me feel more comfortable. I also don't want my bitch and dog housed together because he won't appropriately correct her and she's a bossy little bugger. I'm going to give them a ring and talk about logistics etc

I hate it when my dogs eat dinner and then burp in my face

thanks for that; have either of you used or heard much about their sister business Northshore pet resort? We are trying to secure a rental property now so that we can do a door to door move to minimise how long the dogs are in kennels since my bitch is reactive from anxiety. We see a behaviourist but i don't think our girl will be good in a kennel for a lengthy period. If we can manage a door to door and find pet friendly accommodation while the furniture is transported and delivered, i'd be deliriously happy but i am a realist and know that this won't likely happen. OH is in Brisbane for work tomorrow and going to an inspection of one property in Eight Mile Plains which is just across the road from the house we lived in when we last lived in Brisbane. I don't think it has enough grass for the dogs to even toilet as the pool takes up most of the space and it's paved all around the back. But OH is going to have a look anyways.

my pair of 'constant empty tummied' labs would just walk around saying "food now, food now, food now, food now..." it would get tedious pretty quickly

i've done a search for boarding kennels in Brisbane but they are old threads. Early July we're moving back to Brisbane after 16 years away so, I'm looking for good kennels in Brisbane; at this stage i don't know where we'll end up being so i'm just looking for the best that i can find. I have two chocolate labs. one is an entire bitch; the other is a desexed male with daily oral medications and skin applied medication. I need to have a kennels where care is a priority as my boy will need daily skin checks to manage his allergies. If you could please share your favourite establishments and your experiences. PM if you'd like to discuss in private. thanks.

Doler's we're moving back to SE QLD in early July after being away for 16 years and would like to know your favourite vets. I don't know if we'll be in the north side or south side, but i tend to travel for good vets anyway. My favourite Brisbane vet is now located in Ballarat so I'm starting back at square 1. If you'd prefer to comment privately, please don't hesitate to PM me. Ideally, I was hoping to spay my almost 2 yo bitch before we left Adelaide with our own vet doing the procedure but that won't be possible due to other circumstances. So, once I have found the right vet, i'll get it done when we're finally settled. I have two labrador retrievers; I will need to start looking for vets as soon as we arrive as one of my furkids needs regular visits for meds and care management.

My current vet is awesome and is more than happy to support my decision to desex/spay later rather than sooner with my two current labs. Our last vet didn't hassle me when I told them I wouldn't be desexing Wilbur until two years of age as well, but the one previous were so frigging annoying i moved on. Laikey has had two seasons and I was going to wait until August to have her spayed which is when she's two. But it looks like i'll be doing it around May or early June as we may be moving interstate mid July. I want my current vet to do it and i need to allow enough time for recovery before we leave. Yes, all my vets have asked about desexing at the six month stage but when I have told my current and previous vet my reasons of why i delay they were more than happy to accept my stance. They were both confident that there would be no roaming of my male and no unplanned pregnancies from my bitch.

i have two labs and they have their places in the sitting room where they are to sit but they are also allowed on the lounge when invited. Yes, labs have a shocking time settling down when they're first allowed up but if you train and heavily reward they do learn to sit down. We have the same rules with the beds; i don't allow either dog up on my bed unless it's sheet changing day and then they will be invited up...again, lots of rewarding as soon as they sit/laydown. Miss23 allows our bitch up to sleep each night until i go to bed and then i put our bitch in her crate for the night. Again, Laikey has to invited up on to the bed every single time. She is trained to sit & wait nicely until miss23 is comfortable in bed and then she'll be invited up. If she mucks around, she loses her privileges and comes back into the sitting room until crate bed time. Her sleeping with mis23 is only a recent thing as she had not earned that and we still had to train her to be calm when up there. Sometimes she forgets and gets all silly but we're always on the ready, to reward to good behaviour. We tether them to my lounge chair when they are young so they don't wander. They are rewarded for good behaviours. They have to earn their freedom and we train toward that goal. Our 4yo boy Wilbur has full freedom but Laikey, at 17 months old is still sometimes tethered to my chair eg when she's in season or not settling quickly. I also mat train my dogs very early as I like to take them to cafe's etc and I believe they need something to do eg. sit on their mat, rather than just take them and expect them to know how to behave as i want. There is a mat beside my lounge chair where a pup first learns to be in our sitting room. I make sure to move the mat about so the dogs know that no matter where the mat is, they are expected to sit on it. I also have another mat in the kitchen; they are expected to sit on that mat and wait for instruction - when i'm getting their dinner ready, if they move from the mat, i turn into a statue; i don't move unless two brown bums are on the mat. I do so much mat training, they auto sit on the bathroom mat when i go into the bathroom If you don't want your pup on the lounge at all, you'll still need to train it to sit nicely where you designate and tethering can help you achieve that. I believe you can have the best of both worlds like we do but again, you'll have to train for the outcome you want. Life with crazy labs is crazy but it's crazy wonderful