Kavik

Kaos loves his squeaky toy the most, followed by tug toys. He will work for the squeaky on walks, but is too distracted to work for tug as yet (we are working on it though). Food always works I bought this new toy in the USA which I can't wait to try out when I get back, a fluffy squeaky on a string and stick, will be great to build prey drive I think. Hopefully it will help with working outside the yard. A well known older obedience trialler and instructor who has Goldens (and used to have Kelpies), uses socks for motivators, these also work well for my guys, Diesel especially loves them, though he is not as toy motivated as Kaos and doesn't work well for toys outside the backyard. Treats and pats are the most effective for him.

I may try this with Diesel to try to get more enthusiasm out of him, although having varied the amount of food he gets I haven't noticed him working better if he hasn't been fed. I have done the spitting food thing so normally use cheese as treats as they are the only treat I could handle putting in my mouth! Not a balanced meal so would not use this if I decide to use his meals, would probably use dry food.

From Monty Roberts website: http://www.montyroberts.com/ju_about.html Working in a round pen, one begins Join-Up® by making large movements and noise as a predator would and begins driving the horse to run away. She then gives the horse the option to flee or Join-Up®. Through body language, the trainer will ask, "Will you pay me the respect due to a herd leader and join and follow me?" The horse will respond with predictable herd behavior: by locking an ear on her, then by licking and chewing and dropping his head in a display of trust. The exchange concludes with the trainer adopting passive body language, turning her back on the horse and without eye contact, invites him to come close. Join-Up occurs when the animal willingly chooses to be with the human and walks toward her accepting her leadership and protection. Sounds like negative reinforcement to me! Just because it is not physically violent does not mean that it is purely positive. There is obviously pressure and stress being placed on the horse. I am not saying this is bad. Using methods other than purely positive does not mean that you beat the animal!

Obviously I meant I crated my dogs in the bedroom, not the baby - should have worded it better! I will once again plead sleep deprivation :D The dogs stopped crying after a few days. The baby, well . . .

slightly ot - but now that we are talking wolves . . . Has anyone else watched the National Geographic doco White Wolves where David Mech befriends a wolf pack? Very fascinating stuff.

When you say putting her on the ground do you mean alpha rolling her? Physically forcing her to the ground? That can be dangerous and sometimes can lead to a bite. Dogs do not actually roll each other in this way, one dog voluntarily rolls over to the other. Have you done any obedience training with her?

Zoe also barks when Diesel and Kaos are playing - I call it the fun police :rolleyes: Normally I just put her away or try to distract her (management I know, not really fixing the problem ). I do have to keep an eye on her when she does this as she is dog aggro, and while fine with the other two normally, can get a bit riled up if they are playing roughly. She has a good recall and I can recall her away from the situation.

Good post about leaders and followers. Also good to know what you are as a person. Sometimes quite helpful in dog training :rolleyes: With the examples - you would think they would use new ones occasionally was my point - dolphins are not dogs

Not everyone who uses aversives in training alpha rolls dogs or lies on them until they submit . . . a very dangerous thing to do imo especially with a large dog. Personally I think both sides tend to present extremes - the dolphin example is a classic as is the view that trainers who use corrections totally dominate their dogs, alpha roll them into submission and have unhappy working dogs.

If I stop playing tug with Kaos and make the toy 'dead' Kaos will drop it and wait for it to move again - he knows this is how to get the game to continue though he will have it in between his legs while he is in a play bow ;) Diesel will run off with it, but now will come back for a pat with it.

OK I'm looking for some stuff I can do in agility on my own to improve my handling etc and would like some help on how to do front and rear crosses. I did them ages ago when I took Zoe to agility but seem to have forgotten ;) I admit that when I first did them too I did them wrong and was all over the place - Zoe had to put up with some interesting handling Something like a video would be great as I am having problems visualising and figuring out which direction to go ;)

Mine wouldn't stay sleeping if I tried to do his nails that way! or sleepy darn high energy dogs ;)

You should have seen Kaos when I first tried to do his nails The little bugger tried to full on bite me! This scrap of an 8 week old Kelpie! He is still rather difficult, but at least I can do them now. Now the worst he does is try to pull away or try to lie down when I want to do his front feet, with his feet curled under so I can't reach. Better than biting anyway What I did (and still do) was practice just holding his feet. So I hold his foot, give a treat, put foot down do the next one. When I could hold his foot, manipulate his foot and paw as if you were going to cut the nails. Then pick up the clippers and run them over his feet, then pretend to do a nail etc, and work up to doing a nail. All this over a period of time of course, not all in the one go.

I am going to the USA, but get back on 14th January. If you guys do anything on the weekends, I would love to join you. Or if you are in the Hornsby area on a weekday Then you can see Luke and we can play with Kaos. I am SO close to getting my licence! Then I can go whenever. ETA: I have equipment too - a small seesaw, channel weave poles, 2 jumps, a tunnel. All can be collapsed to fit in the car. Would love hints on seesaw and weaving particularly. And handling of course!

Might have to take you up on the offer sometime

Looks like they had a ball Can't wait to get into it more seriously with Kaos.

It is more important for your dog to be the right weight for your dog's size and build than to be the ideal weight for the standard or to match others in the ring, regardless of whether the others are fat or not.

All of mine lift their legs, including the girls! Not sure how/if you can try to train them to squat only. My boys are very good in the house - never had them mark inside.

Swap you for a screaming baby! Seriously, I crated mine in the bedroom at the start, only had a few nights of crying. Though Staffies do have a particularly distressing sounding cry and can produce some amazing noises

Yep Kaos likes to chew his bedding - he only gets old towels and old polarfleece jumpers. Sometimes I can hear the ripping noise coming from his crate! They do generally outgrow this - my older two don't chew their beds anymore and so get nicer bedding :D

Now that she has had her season she is sexually mature - so her teats and vagina will be bigger - like when we go through puberty I was surprised when my vet asked me if my previous dog had had puppies, she was entire but never had puppies. He thought she had because her teats and vagina were bigger than a dog that had been desexed before its first season. The same has happened to a few DOLers I know. Of course if you are in doubt take her to the vet.

Yes definitely think of size of car! I have the three in my sig, and just had a baby, with only normal sedan. Fitting the dogs in is 'interesting' ! We went away last weekend and left the dogs with a friend, and it was a tight squeeze. Normally I only take one dog at a time though.

Hi Kateshep, she sounds sort of like Diesel Not enough prey drive to use, will work for food but is not as keen on food or motivated in general as my Kelpies. Really he would much rather just hang out and socialise than do any form of training

I think those are good choices Cockers being a bit larger are probably a bit more robust than Cavaliers, but both are nice dogs and a good size to have around children. Goldens are nice too but remember they are going to be a large dog and can be boisterous as pups.

I use my backyard - I am lucky to have enough space to set up some equipment, though the last place I rented (I own now) was better as it was flatter and more open. That is if I use equipment. I do other exercises such as send aways, drive work etc at the park when I go for a walk.