animalsluvbree

tehehhe

i think scope realises that hitting her dog wasnt the right thing and an impulsive reaction to a bad situation... i think scope now needs advice on how to fix the relationship with the dogs (as there is nothing she can do about it now that will take the "punch" back) and come to some sort of compromise with the dogs and her situation......

nicely put.......... edited to redirect my comment better

perhaps i should reinforce grace as higher above, i suppose i am putting human feelings into the situation and feel sorry for harry, as he has never been top dog (our last dog rover was very much top dog).. and so i am trying to compensate for it....... good point... i suppose my thinking was/is that harry is the elder dog, was here first (before grace) and should deserve some repect????

i have two dogs, a silkie and a sheltie and the sheltie is kind of like your shepherd in as much as she will push harry out of the way to get to me, she will barge him, bite him, and if it looks like he is coming for cuddles or attention from me, she will get there first, its no where near as bad as your situation, but i understand you frustration. As harry is the eldest dog and above grace in hierarchy (well in my mind he is, but im not so sure grace sees it that way...lol) i try to make sure harry gets dinner first (they are both put in stays or drops of something) and then grace, harry gets treats first, i dont know if this will help. good luck....

hi all, its been awhile since i have been on here, anyway im not sure if anyone has suggested this but: try to pair the noise with something that the pup loves, like food... so get the family to help to make it easier and get some really yummy food like bbq chicken and make the noise and at first just give him the food for staying there, you will start shaping his behaviour as he gets braver. So then when u think he is comfortable sitting there with the noise, start increasing the bar of what you want him to do, so he has to remain sitting while the noises go off... do you see what im kinda getting at.... to us the noise is nothing but to a little puppy it could be the end of the world and locking him in the room wil only worsen his fear, so you need to teach him that it wont hurt him, in fact its a great noise to be around as he gets bbq chicken or salami... hope this helps

i haven't been for awhile...naughty instructor i am!! hoepf ully i will be going back soon, my baby girl got desexed alittle while ago!!! :D it was a sad day but good in teh grand scheme of things! 32 new dogs WOW!! thats great, so i'll have my work cut out for me i will!! will be good to see everyone there again, its been awhile!

that's really good! trying to get dogs away when they are barking with/at another dog is really hard, so congrats..its a good start!!! what you also need to have by you side is extra yummy treats for when he gets bored of the biscuits or when you think they distraction is higher...so cabanosse (spelling??), chicken, liver...the really yummy stuff!!

you must have a HUGE bed... i think the feeding idea does help....i did some training with steve austin and to get my dogs to watch me i had to feed them from my hand everyday for awhile. harry only got a bit of his dinner when he looked at me..so no dinner from a bowl, we would go down the park for abit more distraction. Steve did tell me not to feed my dogs for 24-48hrs...but i'm too soft and only managed a day i think!! harry did start to watch me more as he was hungry! you do have to make yourself alot more interesting than everything else..it can be hard at times, but that how dogs work....'how can i manipulate the environment to better my needs'....so you have to do that same ' how can i manipulate the environment to get my dogs attention and needs'...i work too so am at home all day and i do have two dogs awell...so it can be hard..but i'm not sure if this is right, but sometimes abit of competiton is healthy, my dogs will compete for my attention so i use it to my advantage, who ever sits first gets to come in first, or the quickest sit etc, it does teach them patience and gets some behaviours shaped alot quicker Not sure if this helps! :rolleyes:

hi Norskgra, So how was your first day at SSDTC? MrsDog told me you were there but i did not get to meet you! I hope it was ok in the heat. Myszka and I have had many a chat about our club and the trainers, and again it comes down to personal preference when training dogs. I know of the trainers she talked about in previous thread and agree with some of her comments but that doesn't mean all the club is like that - and true there may be some inconsistencies but our club is progressing every week in a positive and unified direction. I really do not appreciate people blantly bad mouthing clubs (any clubs for that matter) from there own experiences and second hand knowledge (i know everyone has the right to have opinions of course)..... as i think it creates a bad association even before the person goes there! You can say that you don't like a club....and then if the person asks maybe then PM them and explain but not straight away...its not fair. Sorry but please i don't do it to other club please have the courtesy to do the same. We know we are not all certified dog trainers but we do our best and if there is a problem we have no worries about advising them to seek professional help. I've done training with Steve Austin one-on-one and of course it is much better than a big class - but i can't afford ($$-damn uni student life) to see him every week. I think we do well at our club and i think our 300 odd members think so too - but of course its not everyones cup of life......such is life! We are just want to have fun with our beautful canine friends! Lets leave it at that!

i'd really like to come as i am having some aggression problems with my dogs at the moment but i can't come, i'll pay too for a video or DVD recording! I wish i saw this post earlier!

hi there. It is illegal to physically de-bark a dog in NSW. Its a hard one to answer. I had a cruelty case dog who was abused by men and would bark and bark and bark all the time (not to mention attack men the numbe of male friend that he baled up!!) and we got professional help (i won't mention the company as i didn't like their methods) and they totally stuffed him up more. This is how i initially got interested in dog behaviour as i wanted to figure out why he was barking and biting. I figured out that all he wanted was to be "introduced" to people coming into my house and for them to pat him. I know most behaviouralist would say that a dog shouldn't get greeeted first (leader of the pack sceniro) but it worked for him. The reason that i am saying this is so that if your new dog does bark you may be able to figure out what triggers it and then work from there. It is amazing what you will find if you just sit and watch an animal. I regards to the collars i personally don't like them. It onceagain doesn't treat the cause if the barking and while it may initially stop the barking they can start up other behaviours that are worse eg self mutilation, digging, biting, ruining furniture. So i would think long and hard before getting a collar like that. But it is not to say that they don't work on some dogs as they sell so they must but for the majority it isn't long term and ends in more misery and re training. Hope this helps. I am really interested in behaviour problems and am constantly reading articles from journals about this so please feel free to pick my brains if you like!

I've done private training with Steve Austin and he is great - i'd like to do more with him. I would also like to the saturday classes with him too - but i work. Steve will do private lessons that focus on obedience for those you want to do trialling. Sutherland does agility with instructors on a wednesday night if you are interested and one of the instructors there he does sheep herding and fly ball so he could help you. I want to get my lil sheltie into herding she always tries to round up the other dogs! :D Just to clarify - at sutho there is no rule saying that you have to wear a check chain - if any instructor tells you you "have to" just tell that no you don't and you'd prefer to wear the collar you have - the only rule about collars/leads is that they shouldn't wear car harnesses. I think the instructor everyone is talking about has left (or i haven't seen him for months). Its good to see what everyone opinion is of the different clubs and instructors!

So how did it go - did you go down? It was raining so not many people came...some crazy people trained in the rain - they got soaked!!! :rolleyes:

Thanks Casima and Calzen, Puppyschool at como/sutherland is great too - i have done some work with Darren who owns the practice and he along with his staff are soooo good and the puppyschool gets nothing but praise (i actually forgot about them in my first post - we kind of got off the subject but anywho)...alot of people who are doing their CGC course go their to learn how to do the classes and have so much fun!! Agility at sutho has its ups and downs...i would recommend coming back and seeing if you like it...there is an instructor called Peter who is very good - there are others too of course. I try not to take some of the older ladies (with all respect of course) too seriously as they can get on my nerves alittle but that is the same anywhere you go! I really like agility and hope to get into it abit more seriously once i have some more time (more time??? is there such a thing )! i think Casima is right about the lower grade instructors and that training shoul dbe about fun and when the fun is gone we should rethink wy we are doing it - we need to forget the politics and concentrate on why we took our dogs there in the first place! And thanks Casima for the wonderful complement - that really makes my day!

I'm not trying to stick up for the club (well i sort of am) but i know there are some instructors that have less than appealing ways of training - and you are 100% correct in saying look around for a good experienced instructor (of course i am not saying i am the best nor am i experienced as some - but i do try to shed new light on training -i'm always learning).....someone that can identify with your needs and wants for training....but you never know they may just be at sutho. I'm don't know what else to say......i'm not going to sit on my soap box and talk about how good SSDTC is or how bad it is...its not upto me...no nothing is a secret esp at dog schools (gossip fair!).....i just try to do my best

Hi myszka, I have been with the club for many years and i will agree that there are some instructors that i do not agree with their training methods and cringe when i see them tell someone in the class to get their dog into line or what ever they say. Unfortunately that is how they learnt - they are an older generation of instructors and I being the youngest instructor there (that should narrow it down as to who i am if you have been there in the last couple of years!) believe in a totally different style of training - i get told that i am too soft on my dogs as well and i just ignore it, it works for my dogs so i'm going to keep doing it that way and stuff them if they don't like it! I want a dog that wants to do stuff for me because its happy not because it is scared of the consequences if it doesn't. I have a feeling i know which one you are referring to (i would like to know who you are talking about - i am very curious of course). But i do not think you should tell people not to come to the club purely on one persons experience (not saying you do not know anything or that your opinion is not valuable) but i think people should make up their own mind. The club is changing - slowly - but it is and that is a positive thing. I believe in positive reinforcement (i clicker train my dogs). I find it a good challenge if i can get people to train their dogs without checking them constantly (its a battle i can tell you) and without using dominance over them but some people are set in their ways and it is hard to change them. I am sorry that you had a bad experience with our club, your comments and worries shouldn't have fallen on deaf ears and if you ever did want to come back and try again i know i would make a conscious effort to help you. I am very interested in dog behaviour (i want to complete a PhD in behaviour) so i am always on the look out for new ways to train and just to figure out dogs and what makes them think. But enough babbling....... I think we should let joannakathleen make up her own mind on the club (if she decides to come). Again i am very sorry that your experience wasn't good and that you feel let down i know it was never intentional!

Congrats on your new puppy - what kind it is? I live in the shire as well and used to work at Sylvania vet hospital which has a GREAT puppy preschool. The nurse's name is Deborah Rea-Foote and she is a CGC certified instructor but what i like about her is she teaches clicker training. It is a great way to teach dogs as it focuses on postive reinforcement. She is good and also does kitten kindy to. I run a puppy preschool but its in the eastern suburbs which may be abit far away. When you are finished puppy preschool you should join the sutherland shire dog training club at Sutherland on rawson avenue. I'm an instructor there and i think its a great way to keep your dog socialised and training it at the same time! Its like a family after a while. We are having a Dog's Big Day Out in October the 15th (Saturday) you should come along and see the club otherwise we train every sunday morning at 8:30am. Hope this helps!