Jozlyn

What are you using to reward her? Are you rewarding every time? Or just sometimes?

Cheese or boiled chicken, I reward her everytime.

What do you do when she doesn't come? Try saying her name & running in the opposite direction. Unless there are major distractions, most pups will run after you. When she does, praise & reward her.

Also be careful not to use the word come if she is not coming. Get the behaviour you want first & then put a word on it.

I turn my back on her and walk away, she will generally come to me, if she does she gets praised & rewarded, if not I go back inside without saying anything to her.

It might be worth finding a good training class & joining. You will both find it beneficial.

I SO wish I could but unfortunately I live out in the middle of nowhere I go to the nearest Obedience Club every Sunday, but that is all they do, I don't really know how to explain it, they also use very old fashioned methods, ie jerking on the correction chain to get the dog to be where you want it to, using a "growly" type voice for commands. I don't like their methods, I don't use them at home, I'm trying to stay one step ahead of them so that I can teach her what to do using my methods so that she will do it in class & I don't have to use theirs. I really only go for socialisation for both of us and at some point I'm going to want to use their agility equipment too. I bought the book that they use as their training basis, but thus far I haven't been able to bring myself to read it, it's so old and out of date with current training methods

Until my Susan Garrett books arrive, I'm really, really relying on these forums (& Kikopup although I'm not using a clicker), I just wish I'd found it 10 weeks ago when we got her, I wouldn't have made SO many mistakes with her and she'd be so much further ahead.

I just ordered one today actually Jozlyn. I have one but it was Nylon & I have had my share of rope burns so I ordered a Gripe soft one that is not suppose to slip in your hands

The one I ordered is the official tracking length apparently, 33 feet from K9 Pro online :)

What's that in meters?

Clearly I didn't explain myself very well, sorry. I haven't stopped training her. Nothing has changed in her environment or training locations.

But atm she will only come when I call her if she "feels" like it, I KNOW she's defying me as she just sits and looks at me, with a sort of "not gonna come" look on her face. It's really surprised me just how many different expresions she has, like the way she cocks her head to one side if she doesn't understand what I'm asking her to do :)

Toileting has taken another step backwards too, she wont come to me when I call her to her toilet area and IF she does she will procrastinate for AGES before she will finally go, again I KNOW it's just defiance, I can tell by the way she looks at me. She's also started to go inside way more. This I have to say, is frustrating the hell out of me, I need to find an industrial sized bottle of enzyme killer stuff and a black light to find all the spots Because if she's not going outside she MUST be going inside somewhere.

She's still doing sit/drop/stand, but only inside the house, the same with fetch, she'll only do that inside. Outside she's back to stopping about a meter away from me and just looking at me, no matter how high value the treat is.

Clearly I'm doing something wrong, but I haven't got a clue what. ATM I feel so frustrated with my lack of knowledge that I could scream

I'm still waiting on a heap of Susan Garrett's books to arrive, wish they'd hurry up!

Hi,

I need to get a long line / leed / leash, I'm just wondering how long it should be?

Cheers,

J

Abby (Kelpie) will be 4 months old in 2 days. Just the last couple of days she's started to ignore or defy commands I give her, these are the one's she knows well.

Is this normal? What do I need to do to fix this? Do I need to start her training again?

Cheers,

J

Edit: Defiant & ignoring were not the right words to use now that I've read all of the responses! I think there was a lack of understanding on both our parts, my rewards were not of high enough value to her, my commands were not comanding, basically I was making quite a few mistakes! After just a few hours of work on myself, Abby has started to enthusiasticaly respond again.

So thanks for all the help guys, much appreciated.

Yep I prefer it to biting too :laugh: TBH sometimes I don't notice her doing it either!

It's definitely a sleepy/affection/attention type thing. Yes, if she can't get skin she licks clothes instead!

don't have her where she can access your skin ?

walk away

maybe start N I L I F link HERE

Make sure she has plenty of different textures/foods/toys to explore with her mouth ..rotate toys , provide her with meat on bone meals ..

basically don't put yourself in a position where she can lick you for long periods of time

Yeah, it's an attention thing, when she wants a cuddle or she's tired. Thanks.

My 17 week old Kelpie puppy, Abby just licks and licks and licks us. If she can't find bare skin to lick, she'll settle for the clothing we're wearing.

While this is much preferable to her gnawing on us, how do we stop this?

Cheers,

J

Where is the trial being held?

How old is Reggie?

My puppy was doing almost exactly the same thing at the same age, except she was leaving her lunch. She's 17 weeks nearly now and has only just started really hoing into her lunch. I feed her at roughly 9am (when we get back from taking the kids to school), between 1-2 (when she wakes up from her sleep) then between 6-7 (after we have our tea), she also gets a very, very small handful of biscuits for supper.

In SA you have Mt Gambier as a country club down your way. Then metro there is Southern Districts, Noarlunga, Agility Dog Club, SA Obedience Dog Club, Munno Para, Para Districts and Gawler. The other country clubs are Whyalla and Riverland (Barmera).

Thanks very much :D

HI

I have a brown and cream girl kelpie about 8 months.

I am lucky in that we do have some experienced agility trainers in my area. We have two clubs and one offers a very structured program learning Greg Derrett's system.

I brought some books (reccommended 2 me )that gave me some help when I brought my kelpie. One was Control Unleashed The Puppy Program by Leslie McDevitt. And The Focused Puppy by Deborah Jones, Judy Keller. And to balance things out i also read Ruff Love by Susan Garrett but that's another gameplan altogether. However it was something to consider and it had some good games in it.

I also just purchased Susan Salo puppy jumping and will buy Susan Garretts One JUmp. Bearing in mind the jump bar doesn't really exsist, they use a "bump" on the ground. Your pup isn't old enough yet but will be before you know it.

I find time is flying by and so much to teach. I don't feel a need to hurry and there is none. I did/do concentrate with my pup with socialisation and taking her everywhere. Agility dogs need to be comfortable in all sorts of situations. My pup didn't get a lot of socialisation so to me this was paramount.

Building a reward system is also really important. Tug, tug tug and take it everywhere.

Congradulations BTW. Your pup is lovely.

I've just ordered some books recently, waiting very impatiently for them to arrive.

Thanks, we think Abby's gorgeous too :D

OMG I would never feed that much cheese in one day!

Garlic is not the same as onion, as far as dogs go. A dog would have to eat a whole bulb (clump) of garlic for it to do any harm. Garlic in small doses is actually beneficial to your dog & can help to repel parasites. Many of the more "natural" dog foods contain garlic. My dogs go nuts over those treats I have listed I roughly cut them up into 1cm cubes, but can then break them up smaller if I feel inclined to do so, & deliver the treat nice & slow or throw them down in rapid succession, depending on what I am training.

Ahhh thanks, for some reason I had it in my head that garlic was a no go. Makes life a bit easier, I can actually give her some of our leftovers now.

J.

Wow, what a shame that it is so hard to start a dog off in Victoria.

I understand triallers wanting to train at multiple clubs but in a way they are also limiting the future of the sport by preventing new people from starting out. I am glad it is not like that in SA and those wanting to train are easily able to.

Where in SA are the Club's? I live near Border Town and given what I've been reading about Victorian Clubs, I might opt to travel in the opposite direction!

Cheers.

www.dogssa.com.au

Go to Clubs and Activities, then Affiliated Clubs.

Thanks :)

My Kelpie puppy has been doing something similar, she just sails off the top of the back steps onto the brick pavers below, not all the time, but it does worry me a little.

Put some rubber matting at the bottom of the stairs, so that his jump is cushioned a bit.

Ohhh, what a brilliant idea, thanks.

Have you had a look at this page for some yummy treat ideas...I have posted it a few times...but here it is again Yummy, simple homemade treats & they are healthy too :) I find a bit too much cheese can upset their tummies.

I've just been checking out the recipes and several of them say to add garlic, I was under the impression that garlic was a BIG no-no for dogs, like onion.

Cheers,

J.

Have you had a look at this page for some yummy treat ideas...I have posted it a few times...but here it is again Yummy, simple homemade treats & they are healthy too :) I find a bit too much cheese can upset their tummies.

Anything new I give her in very small doses :)

Thanks for the link, I'll check that out now :D

Ohhh and boiled chicken, well the attention was unbelievable

Also does anyone know of any Agility type Clubs in Western Victoria? We're near Border Town.

Not really, you're best bet would be Horshams dog club and hope they do agility. There would be nothing in Nhill or Kaniva. Maybe once or twice a month make the trip to Adelaide to go to their agility clubs?

Haha talking about these towns makes me a little homesick! I was born in Bordertown, my mum was born and raised in Kaniva and most still live there and my dad was Bordertown born and raised and all still live there :laugh:

I had a feeling that might be the case but it was worth asking anyway, we love going to Adelaide so trips there are not out of the question :)

Thanks.

J.

Thanks for the info' folks.

ATM I'm using: "love 'em" puppy rewards (these are the lower value ones), for higher value rewards I use: "Jer High" Milky Sticks for puppies, "Pedigree" Puppy trainers and boiled chicken.

I'm now going to add: cheese, sausage & chicken loaf, keep her guessing :laugh:

Cheers,

J

Thanks Kavik, but what sort of cheese, ie tasty or chedder?

Cheers,

J

Hi,

My 16 week old Kelpie puppy LOVES cheese! I would like to use it as a treat/reward for her. BUT how much can I give her in a day and what sort? She weighs in at about 10 kgs atm.

Many thanks,

J

Wow, that's one hell of a lot of acronyms to learn, I have a feeling I'll be checking back in on this post frequently!

Thanks guys.

J