mowgliandme

It looks amazing, going to book it now :) Will do! https://denisefenzi.com/2016/10/17/the-rational-participant/ We are playing a lot more in general! Previously I would play with her a little bit with toys and then she would just continue on playing by herself or go chew on the toys and then I'd go do something else... but now she is just constantly bringing me toys to play with (and wont play by herself at all...) I have been doing lots of short sessions of just running around with her and in the backyard, play with with toys, making fun noises, having her chase me etc :) which has been lots of fun she does like chasing the toys but at the moment doesn't want to tug them much because she is teething~ She gets most of her food from a treat ball but she's not much of a foodie and is reluctant learn tricks for her regular dry food (she will do behaviours she already knows for it slowly but wont learn new behaviours for it even after missing two meals...I'm not sure if I should be more stubborn here? but she either just doesnt take it, spits it out or just goes and does something else!) ...i had steak and roast chicken at training last week and she still wanted to sniff around - So heres hoping that building the value for me works better than food! Looking into Susan Garrett videos now :) I do that too! :)

I think these "puppy fun classes" might be just what we are looking for at the moment too! :) http://www.drvet.com.au/services/puppy-pre-school

:) Knew that there would be a good explanation for it! Looking forward to trying nosework with her

I am loving all the ideas :) She is a very clever puppy at learning tricks! :) she knows sit, down (both with implied stay with distractions until released), leave it, stand, belly up, come, go to crate, touch, watch me, weaving between legs, spin/twirl, get it, bring it, drop, we are working on “paws up” on an object and pivoting at the moment, shes very good at settling everywhere … But food isn’t motivating enough for her outside of the house (she’s not over fed and quite slim) so I’m looking for more bonding/playful things so that I can get more focus and attention when we are outside/like at training…because then she would rather sniff all the grass than work with me soo i need to be more fun/exciting? This could be temporary because the week before at training she did soo amazingly that we moved up a level and then last week I could barely get her to do anything -even the basics...she is just hitting 5 months so may be at that "selective deafness" stage in puppy development but more bonding/attention never hurt anyone! The trainer suggested i keep giving leash corrections until she listens but I don't think that builds me as a fun person to be around/would rather try something else

Box game looks fun! :) do you name the behaviours (like paws up/touch/hop up etc?) or is the aim just to see what creative ideas she will offer?

I love kikopup! I have been doing the Weekly puppy insights program on Emily Lahrlam's dogmantics website and it has been great! :) Teaching her lots of tricks from her youtube too

Will these help improve her sense of smell? :) It takes her at least 5-10 seconds to find a piece of meat outside that i've put right in front of her! (I was attempting the loose leash walking technique where you drop food behind you and walk ahead) she is only a little better inside

What games do you play with your dog? :) looking for suggestions/ideas other than tug/fetch My puppy is currently teething so she is not as interested in tug at the moment and more interested in chewing sticks/frozen treats/the tug toys I have been told that the jolting in fetch can be really bad for developing joints (?) so am trying to keep the repetitions in a day low and only playing on grassy areas. I can get her to wait when I throw it and then retrieve the ball so have been doing a bit of that We do a few sessions of tricks/obedience training during the day and I take her for 1 or 2 short walks.

Hi TSD, can you please give me some tips on how to do this? :D This is what I want to do achieve with my puppy! I just learned this weekend that just upping the value of the treats is not enough (I had steak and roast chicken and she wouldn't even work for those at training because she wanted to sniff!) I just started working on increasing her value of playing with toys with me right now rather than just chewing on them

Soo beautiful! I love them all :)

Thanks for the recommendation theojess1 and Thistle the dog :) I learnt the hard way just how muddy soft toys get when camping! So have stocked up on more "outdoorsy toys" for those situations! We got the tie out stake - looking forward to trying it out soon :)

Rascalmyshadow, great thats the one i have (wahl Italian series straight comb) :) Glad you told me about the steel toothed comb and 40 attachment Gruf I am looking forward to this grooming adventure and feeling more prepared now Thanks again for all your responses :)

Thanks! I'll watch the links you recommended :) I put him in the pen now when visitors are here, and he gets ignored until all 4s, then treats are thrown at intervals for being calm! then he gets the pats from low and below so he doesn't jump... it's just that I don't get that many visitors and it's sort of hard to do with strangers on walks hehe. I guess I just have to persist with what I've got? I only tried taking the chicken neck because the piece was getting small and I was worried he would choke. I tried other treats but he must've valued that as highest out of everything I've had at the time, bcz he wouldn't budge and would growl! This is where it gets very confusing, some advices say to never back off, and some advices say to never push it. it's like total opposite answers! Yep there is definitely a lot of opposite ways of raising dogs! You have to decide what works best for you :) but i think what people are trying to get at with that one was that "if you do it when they're puppies, they'll get used to it" idea which isn't always true and can go either way. A puppy may be okay with you taking its bone away but as an adult it may not be... or your dog may be okay with it forever? I dont think theres anything wrong with spending a lot of time in the playpen given there is interesting stuff/toys to play with in there as well as places to sleep, and water available. Adult dogs sleep 17 hours a day anyways and puppies sleep even more! Seems he is getting enough exercise, going on outings, training, being supervised when outside is better than letting him loose and giving him opportunities to make mistakes/mess up (like chewing furniture or trying bin stealing) He is absolutely gorgeous :) I think you're doing a fantastic job, i'm sure he will turn out wonderfully!

Do all of these attachments work on the andis clippers? Rascalmyshadow, when using the #B comb or #0 comb attachment, why do i need a 40# blade? Will the #10 blade make it shorter? :) is it sharper or something like that? karen 15 thinning scissors look like a miracle, I tried to trim some excess hair off her ears a while back and got such jagged looking cuts which i wish i could take back too! Also in regards to scissors...for a home groomer (only one dog), groomed probably every 2ish months, how much should I be spending on scissors? (I did once cut my own hair with a pair of scissors at home which gave me more split ends than I started with, so ended up having to get it done professionally after i found out my scissors were not of hair cutting quality!) I'd like to add thinning scissors and potentially even curved scissors to my grooming tools but the local pet shops only have the under $20 ones like this http://www.mypetwarehouse.com.au/kazoo-grooming-thinning-scissors-p-12257 which didn't look that great to me, but then when i went on clipper world, scissors are up to $100s of dollars

I do know a couple of groomers but I don't think i'm close enough with them for them to teach me or let me watch (grooming professionally already sounds very hectic), her breeder is happy to teach me scissor clipping (as she doesn't use clippers) which i hope to do soon :) Thanks karen15 :) I will look into that book, that sounds great! I've been watching a lot of youtube tutorials but everyone on the videos seems to be going quite short on their dogs and I couldn't figure out the right combos of attachment/blade or just blade to get the length that i wanted (until I got showdog's advice) She is a cobberdog/australian labradoodle, she really seems to love the nails/paw pads being done even more than the brushing :p (she still likes being brushed though) p.s. I bet she will be pleased she can lay down for some of it then!

Was just coming back on here to ask which one it was! :) Perfect, I was already going to the city tomorrow There was none in the Southland one when i went a few weeks ago, but I did sneak in a few extra toys for her (as per usual!)

Ah okay, thanks for the answers! :) didnt realise they were different re: scooters/animals. Shes a pretty chill pup but has chased certain types of birds (those brown birds with the yellow beaks) a couple of times, which i don't want to turn into chasing wildlife when camping, I have been rewarding calm behaviours around birds though, soo hopefully that can be generalised! Thistle looks so cute and happy in your weaving video :)

Thanks TTD, didn't know you could get them soo cheaply - will go there tomorrow :)

Out of curiosity, does that mean its impossible to desensitise prey drive out of a dog once they have it? How does this translate to say taking the dog to a field where there are rabbits, or dogs chasing birds/cars/scooters? Many people have desensitised dogs to bikes/scooters riding past ...what makes the GP so different in this case? Im asking to learn as I don't know much about prey drive at all! :)

Eep i'll keep that in mind too for next winter :) I dont think it will be ever much longer than 5 inches though, she does look very adorable at the moment but its probably the longest id want to maintain, and i'm keeping it as knot free as possible (combing every day if i have to!)

Thanks again for your help! :) I'll get both, i think #3 would be good for peak summer when we are camping most and the longer comb attachments for now, I'll try to organise it so that her hair can be longest and fluffiest in winter :)

As everyone else has said, this is normal puppy behaviour :) But as youve asked for some tips, these are what I did with my puppy that i would recommend! For hyperactivity: this is probably the best thing out there: I did this with my puppy for probably 3 full days and then just in new environments, and she is now super calm everywhere we go, she will settle down at the train station, when camping, lay under the cafe table for hours, or if i stop on the street to chat with people. If you are at home and the doorbell rings, you can try to pop him in a play pen on your way there, or leash him to the dinning table? That way you/guests dont have to interact with him until he is calm. In the long run, you can teach him a "place command" Ive put a spot of felt about 3m from the door, and say "on your spot" and she will go and sit there until released (we are only up to about 5 seconds for this and I haven't tried this with the doorbell because ive just started teaching it!) People on the street/cafes are just like that! I just tell them she's in training and to ignore her, and then give her treats for ignoring them (I took her on the train and about 6 people were trying to get her attention but she was just happy chilling at my feet) But theres always people that will try to swoop in for a pat as you're trying to walk nicely past them :p Dodgy recall: Firstly with commands that you REALLY want him to understand, like recall/come, (or really any command) don't use them all all unless you are sure he will do it, or you can ensure that it happens, this establishes that this phrase "(puppy name) come" means he ALWAYs has to come, if you keep saying it and he ignores it, then he is learning to ignore it~ just like over using his name, it dilutes the meaning of the words. And for the first few months always have a treat or a great reward for these things. So practise from short distances, inside, in the back yard, outside the front door, on the street in front of your house, "be more exciting than dirt" is the words of our trainer, run backwards, flap your arms, make noises, use toys, whatever you have to so that you say the words once and then the puppy comes. Outside we do the same thing on leash, I use higher value treats outside, I can use regular treats inside the house/in the backyard but when taking the puppy out i bring little cubes of roast chicken, cooked mince, sausages etc. I also add distractions slowly and adjust rewards accordingly, yesterday i put down grated carrot on the floor and called the puppy away to cooked mince, then i put mince on the floor and called her and gave her a raw chicken neck etc So if you say sit and he doesnt sit, you have to lure him into a sit very quickly! otherwise sit becomes another word like "and" "boy" "puppy" I had originally banned everyone else in the family from using the words "puppy come" unless i'm there to supervise because they will do it wrong or they wont have treats. To my puppy, come means: come here and sit in front of the person, close enough so that they can grab your collar, and stay there until released. Signs of dominance:? Im not 100% certain on that one (so if i'm wrong feel free to correct me) but my view as a more positive reinforcement person... Is that if a dog is grumbling at something, it means it doesnt like it, so I try and make it as enjoyable as possible. Resource guarding can occur if you frequently take good things away from your puppy, so when they're little i add things to their food bowl while they are eating, add a treat into the kibble as i walk past, so now if i go near her food bowl she will look up at me in a excited happy way. Teach them to drop chews, for an even better treat, do this until established before taking the chew away for a second, give a treat, and then giving the chew back etc here is the kikopup video I dont see why you would need to take away chicken neck from a dog...? Id give them in a crate so they cant be disturbed and I'd only do it for training purposes and to make sure i can do it if the needed in the future using the same techniques as the resource guarding video above Source: I am doing the kikopup weekly puppy insights program and training at positive k9 in kew with my 18 week old puppy Anyways i think youre doing really well :) puppies are a handful and some times these things sort themselves out on their own but the best thing you can do is set your puppy up to be successful :D Good luck

Ooops figured out that the combs have the length written on them "WAHL Stainless Steel Comb Attachment Size 8, 25mm" One more noob question! Is the length written on the comb also for if you are combing against the grain, or with the direction of the hair? Im hoping to cut in the same direction as the hair

Thanks showdog :) Totally didnt realise that you couldnt use attachments on all the blades! I'll get her a bit more used to standing to be groomed first then I think the clipper comes with a #10 blade (which says it keeps hair only 1.5mm) what attachment type/size would i need with this to keep hair 1-2 inches? I would of course wash, dry and comb her before using it :) Her coat is super thick, so i think it would be cute and fuzzy, but I guess we'll see! I really do love brushing her and keeping her knot free, but i think she is hot most of the time, and I don't really want it any longer than 6 inches (personal preference) so i'm not doing it to cop out of combing her! We have been to the beach three times this week so that probably contributed to the knotiness too... I havent used the coat king much, (just slicker and comb) i only got it on recommendation from a few friends but I havent had much use for it~ Is there a particular slicker brush that you recommend? mine is just a kmart one and while it works I dont really have anything to compare it to, so probably worth upgrading that too

I have been reading through the grooming forum for a while now and have a couple of (I think new) questions For a little bit of background, I have a small (10kg adult) straight haired pup, her hair is around 5 inches long right now and doesn't have any knots (but its getting very hard to keep it knot free!) and I’d like to cut it back to around 2 inches long, shortest I'd want it is 1 inch. Im not too fussed if it isnt perfectly even :) This will be my second time clipping a dog (I gave up on clipping the last dog as he was very hyper and just would not calm down, but this puppy is very calm and relaxed so I think I have a chance this time!). I have been combing her every 1-3 days, I cut her nails every 1-2 weeks, and trim her paw pad hair and around her face and eyes every few weeks too. She is very comfortable with all of this. I have wahl Italian 7 inch staight scissors, a mars coat king blade 12, slicker brush and comb so far in my grooming kit. Firstly, can this length be achieved with clippers (with comb attachments) or is scissor cutting the only option? :) I am happy to do either but I think clipping would be faster...? If I can do this with clippers, I am hoping to get the Andis AGC2 clippers, with the andis 4FC blade and comb attachments – are these the right ones for this job? Any recommendations/alternative suggestions would be soo appreciated! Thirdly, I have been grooming my puppy lying down so far, she is very calm and relaxed in this position (or is just lazy) and i think getting her to stay standing for the whole time will require more effort (which im happy to put in if needed) Are there any issues with clippering her while she lies on her side or stomach...would the skin be taught enough? I havent actually got the clippers/attachments yet, so if im dreaming please tell me :D