TangerineDream

With new puppies (I've had Dobes and GSP's) I put the crate in the bedroom with me and make a bed in the crate in one end and line the rest of the crate with a lot of newspaper - this lets me know when the pup moves off the bed onto the paper (I sleep with one ear open like you do with babies), and as soon as I hear them stirring it's outside quickly for a toilet stop. With babies, I've found that they might want to go every couple of hours for the first few nights until they settle and then the sleep periods lengthen quickly. Hints: no water after 8pm, and a toilet stop last thing before bed (say 11is) - I actually have 2 stops just before bed about 10 minutes apart - you'd be amazed at what babies forget to do the first time they are out there.......especially in cool weather. Lots of luck...just been there and done that myself [edited because I had bablies...what's a bablie?????]

I have 1 psycho lunatic GSP (9 month old TEENAGER ) - he does the same thing - I open the door from the garage into his run and totally ignore him - don't speak, don't look at him, move slowly and calculatedly (is there a word???) and then out to clean up the run, restuff the lounge that he unstuffs every day, open the gate to the rest of the backyard, inside, still ignoring a lunatic running around at a million miles an hour, light the fire, get changed, put the kettle on, then get a dog biscuit...and call him to me and make him sit....then give it to him and tell him 'mat'..... by the time he's finished it, it's settled him enough for me to be able to put my radar away (you know the one, it warns you of an impending broken leg if you don't get out of the way of an oncoming express train from behind you ) My tricks...go out into his territory and potter about for a few minutes, ignore dog - be silent and don't look at him, do what I want to do (about 15 mins)...then call him to me and MAKE him sit.....give biscuit....onto mat.. I can't imagine having 2 Tangos to contend with ;)

It's called "the opportunity presented itself" ;) The most dominant dogs are often the "SBD" (silent but deadly) type - because you don't know what they are up to or why they are doing it till they've hiked themselves over the top of you in the hierarchy and then start changing the rules on you...Tango's like this - you'd think he was a sook, but he's just very good at working out how to appease people (and get away with stuff)...his favourite trick atm is to ignore me when I tell him to drop in the car...stands just out of reach so if I swipe at him I miss.......then comes rushing up, plants himself with front feet on the console and stares at me from about 10" away with a smirk on his face...I have to try very hard not to laugh.... Dogspeak Rule #325.4: he who laughs loses..... [edited because I think faster than I type....]

He's possibly going through doors ahead of you, staring at you when you call him but not coming immediately, getting under your feet or between you and whatever you are doing, being selectively deaf, attitude may have shifted somewhat from the affectionate puppy to a slightly more aloof dog...that sort of thing, just being a bit defiant.... "Who's the Boss?" Tango's going through the same stage.....my fix is by cuddling him when he wants (which, btw is a dominance thing on his part), but then refusing point blank to let him go until he stops wriggling(that's me being more dominant than him)...it can take 5 minutes, is done in dead silence....the last time I won that battle I was sitting on the loo ;) The other thing is to stare them down until they avert their eyes (that can take 10 - 15 minutes if you have a young boy who wants to get to the top of the tree)... btw, many dogs get away with being dominant because they are so sneakly 'unobvious' about what they are doing......Tango's one of them....you have to be aware of what they are doing all the time, or you miss the tiny, but very significant signals. The last dog (Dobermann) who marked me was a friend's dog, and he got a short, sharp obedience lesson at double pace with a lot of about turns....never did it again....... Marking you is a sign that you are below them in the pecking order (according to them) To fix it...I wrote an article a while ago with some hints here.... "How can I get to be the boss?"

Tango gets washed when he smells, which has been 3 times in 4 months..the back of his front legs gets wiped with antiseptic wipes because he's at that stage where he's still squatting to piddle sometimes and his aim's not that good. As he sleeps on the bed, if he smells, he gets washed.....but in between real washes if he needs to be freshened up I wash him down with a Chux dipped in soapy water, or take him to a show and spray him with Ring NO 5 spray :D and he smells fabulous for nearly a week!

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Dobes are often very rough players, and watching 2 together can somethimes give the impression that there is murder about to be committed (even though they are having a ball)...on the other hand I would think (I don't know because I haven't owned any) that Irish are not as 'tough' as Dobes.....is it possible that Mali is playing with Jespah as she would play with another Dobe pup but it's too roough for him? I'm just thinking of my Dobes when I had 2 and they would belt around the yard interconnected by mouth on neck...but no damage was ever done and they both loved it - but I did have to encourage Tegan (Dobe) not to be too rough with Cadence (GSP) because she was just too rough on him as a youngster......and I wouldn't let them in the yard together until he was about 12 months old for that reason.....even though she adored him, she was just too rough

Tango's weight at 14 weeks when I picked him up was 15kg, I kept him putting on weight very very slowly till he was about 6months (24kg then) and at 7.5 months, he's still only 26kg, but I tend to run my pups a bit leaner rather than pudgy for the health of their joints while they are growing strongly. Cheers & enjoy babyhood!!

With Tango the reward that works best for him in obedience is praise - he adores it...corrections are only as required and that is only after refocussing him hasn't worked. The corrections that I use are obedience based and not seen by him as corrections.... so I get a positive response every time and a happy pup. When heeling I have the lead around the back of my legs and held against my right hip so that if he gets too far ahead, the action of my legs against the lead reminds him of where he's meant to be and that is the best method that I've found - I don't need to actively correct him, the lead does that for me. To refocus him I just do some very snappy about turns ..... He learns quickly and wants to please (most of the time).

Tango has got to the 'full of beans' and '4 feet off the ground' stage at 7.5 months.....tonight I have to go out to the showground and after he had spent the day in the car and a crate at work I decided to take him down to the river so I could get rid of some of the beans......he had to heel down the path from the car to get to the grassed area (so we'd had a few minutes of focussed obedience there) and then when on the grass I lunged him in circles on a 10' lunge line, interspesed with calling him in to me and rewarding him and then releasing him and lunging him some more. When a dog came around, he greeted them, but when they left, he started running in circles and squealing and focussing on the dog, until I told him to heel and then did a series of very smart (and fast) right about turns to get his focus back on me.. As soon as I had it back, he was rewarded and then released again..... This sort of thing works for him when he has high energy levels and is in an environment that excites him (eg: shows also atm) - because of this, I've taught him a single word that always gets his attention away from the distraction...and that word is ENOUGH...when that has broken his attention and refocussed it on me, then I do some obedience (food as a reward if needed) and then release again.. works for me, might be worth a try.

What a lovely brown dog he is!!! Look forward to pics to coo over in the next few months!

I ended up carrying a tablet of apomorphine everywhere as Tegan, when she bloated, bloated incredibly quickly (she was a 'fermenter' mostly) - my vet accepted that I would follow his instructions to the letter for its use, and I'm pleased to say that I never had to use it, but because it's a restricted drug, I had all h#ll trying to find a vet in Melbourne who would exchange my tablet every year, as the fear was that if it was given at the wrong time, the dog could die and I would sue them........ If you have a high bloat tendency and a very, very good relationship with your vet it might be worth asking - I know that it made me feel a lot more confident when away from my normal vet....

I gave Tegan ipecac syrup in one instance and then walked her around the backyard for 30 minutes till she threw up - but you can only use this method if you catch it right at the very beginning before the gut has even considered twisting - I'd only ever use it if I was suspicious that there might be a problem and I wanted the dog to empty their stomach...salty water also works....

These were the signs I got when Tegan (Dobe) was bloating - discomfort - if you tap the belly with your finger it sounds hollow and feels sort of distended but not heavy - would get bigger as you watched - either very loud gut noises or totally silent (the opposite to what would be normal often) - put your ear to the belly if in doubt - get to the vet....and if seriously concerned, don't let any vet fob you off with - just watch for a couple of hours - if you haven't been through it before it's better to annoy everyone and make sure - this action saved Tegans' life once because the vet was being lazy... Let us know how things go...... Jane

Have had to do the same with Tango - there's a dog who lives down the side of a lane that we walk down...as soon as it rushes at the fence yelling its head off, I send Tango into obedience mode, we heel, sit, stand, about turn and fast pace (controlled at heel) right past this distraction and I work hard to keep his attention on me 100% - he gets praised right the way through this as soon as he is focussed on me.....now it only takes a gentle reminder while walking down that path, and the dog is still screaming and shouting, but Tango will focus on my for the length of this dog's yard (almost totally ignoring the racket going on right next to him). Always done on a check chain. Lump of cheese at the end never hurts either :cool:

Tango lies beside my chair on the floor, my dogs in the past have either been there or on their daybeds in the same room. I've done a lot of downstay teaching at mealtimes starting with pups on lead and graduating up to off lead stays.

Tango usually gets fed before me, but at broadly varied times (6.30pm to 11pm atm) - I find that he's quieter when I'm eating if he's already eaten and he will happily lie down at my feet and wait til the meal is finished....if he's not been fed he circles like a shark which drives me nuts...I know that you are 'meant' to eat first and feed dog later to reconfirm the pack order, but my hectic life just can't quite come to terms with that one, but this method works for me....and Tango gets to practice his long downs.....

Delighted that she has settled and that she is bonding well.... Such a fabulous breed (no, I'm not biased at all :rolleyes: she says with a GSP under the desk wrapped around my feet)...enjoy!!!!!

My dogs have always slept on my bed (Dobes & GSP's).....GSP's love being around you, in fact they love touching you, in fact they can never seem to get enough of you - I think you might have problems if the pup spends time inside with you during the day and in the evenings and then has to go out at night to sleep - mine have always seen being away from me as being undesirable..........

Casually walking means that Tango can do as many kms as he wants as I walk him most of the time on a 10' lead (half length lunge line) - and does probably 5kms for every 1 that I do, round in circles - always anticlockwise, backwards and forwards etc - so long as he doesn't pull (which he doesn't) I don't mind. If casually walking through a crowd, he walks with me in a loose heel slightly forward of left...and for a 7 month old, he's pretty good.

Angelo, welcome to your new GSP...she'll most certainly be stressed by the 'disappearance' of her mates and suddenly bing on her own, and also away from human companionship...as I write this I have a 7month old GSP planted under the desk wrapped around my feet. Does she have the chance to be inside with you in the evenings and on weekends? My bloke spends 12-13hours a day by himself in a run with a variety of toys, a Kong and breakfast, and except for the shredding of a hessian bag when his molars set recently he's settled down - but the first fortnight was dreadful - if I left him he shrieked!!! then one day, he stopped, and peace returned to the world.... I would bring your girl in and sleep her in a crate in your bedroom for a few weeks till she gets herself oriented and bonds with everyone in the household - if she shrieks in the crate, a low rumbly "nooooo" should work (is she used to being in a crate?) - if not a quick squirt in the face from a spray mister and 'no' will convince her that it's not a good idea. I'd have a chat to the neighbours and explain the situation and reassure them that it won't go on forever....mostly they are pretty understanding....but sleep her inside and that will placate them. Good luck with her...

I've used this method both training my dogs, and training classes as it seems to work well.... 1. Use both hand and voice commands together until you have 100% reliability. 2. Continue to use voice command as usual, but make hand signal slightly less dramatic....continue to make it less dramatic slowly - if the dog suddenly looks confused, go back to "BIG" hand signals too... 3. When you are at the stage where you can use your voice and a 'small' hand signal, proof this before trying it without the hand signal at all.....you're effectively teaching a new exercise and it's important that you don't progress faster than the dog can, and don't jump the steps...... Note: you may find (like a small person ie: GSP, I know well called Tango or alternatively 'El Destructo') that the dog knows what you want , but is testing you (don't repeat the command either verbally or by hand signal, simply move in and physically but steadily, make it happen), which is why it's important to be 100% reliable before you move onto the next stage.. Shouldn't take too long to get there - just a few repetitions (or more than a few if your dog is stubborn, or dominant) Lots of luck.......

The amount of cereal in it wories me - my Dobe bitch bloated on Meat Bits (which also had a lot of cereal in it) when she was a baby because it fermented in her gut........so I wouldn't use it for that reason (but then I have been known to be overcautious about anything that might cause bloat, even in a dog that hasn't bloated)

One of my Dobes survived bloat twice - both were diet related where the dry she was being fed had meat byproducts in it and her stomach was fermenting this. I had to put her on Supercoat and had no more problems. Also fed cooked chicken mince (with the fat skimmed off), rice and oatmeal. From then on I have always made sure that my dogs have at least 1 hour of quiet time after exercise and before a meal and then after the evening meal that is the end of their day - they lie around except for wandering out to go to the toilet....... if prone to bouncing after a meal, they get crated. Meals, especially straight after bloat in the recovery stages, should be reasonably bland to start as the gut (from stem to stern) will be bruised and then brought back to include the fooods that you will be giving them. Feed at chest level if you can. Meal size was halved in the evenings and fed in 2 stages, and water was withheld for at least 1 - 1.5 hours after a meal. Stay vigilant......once they have bloated, there is an increased risk of it happening again. I always used to tap the sides about 5 and 15 minutes after a meal just to ensure that I didn't hear the awful 'hollow' sound and I still palpate gently to make sure that the abdomen is soft. After that I always used to carry a bottle of Ipecac - salt water also works well in making them throw up if you can get to them in time.....used the Ipecac once and it certainly helps if it works BEFORE the stomach twists...

At 19 weeks Tango's triggers are (so far): walk - lead in my hand obedience - check chain in hand but not on neck until outside in the yard show training - check chain on neck release - "OK", plastic purple dumbell appears Strongest drive is for the plastic, purple, awful, squeaky dumbbell that drives me insane, food? yeah, right.... Only dog I've ever had to train to be interested in food as a trigger