imy

yes, I was wondering about that... I bought a treat bag

Yup, I'm going to start with nose targeting... well, looking in the gfeneral direction first, then touching from there... The touch will be nice one to start with as these boys have learnt to 'poke' things off the coffee table by themselves... I'd like to teach them to do it on command so they don't wanna do it all of the time (luckily they don't CHEW the stuff)

That sounds like a good one pax... would be good for teaching drop later on too... especially since they have to 'fold up' like a card table to get to the ground!

I think 'look at moi' is a goer for now. So I can get their attention when they are being goofy. LOL I dug my own grave with the fishy cake... I only cook one if their birthday falls on OUR weekend. The youngest has had 2 cakes with us and the last one was a snake complete with choccy drop scales. He went home and told him mum (who made an ordinary cake and dumped lolly snakes on top LOL not the same) ANYWAY, the oldest is HANGING for his own novelty cake now so I'm doing him a bream because he likes fishing. It has toffee tail and fins (already made) and a jelly ocean to lay on (already done) and it WILL have jersey caramel scales (already sliced and cut into shape LOL) ANYWAYS... I'll get piccies.

LOL... I bought some generic (cheap) rescue remedy... that'll be used well when it comes to our first few obedience lessons... not just to calm nerves... but to quell excitement a little too.

I couldn't get a clicker last night... I'll try again tonight. I don't know that I'll be able to do much in the way of training tonight though, my partners kids are down (chaos) and it one of their birthdays so I've been planning to make a 'fish' cake in a bed of blue jelly and all! The weekend sounds like a good time to play with the pooches... as long as the kids don't decide to'help' LOL I need an EASY trick to start with... I heard about 'look at the spot' trick. Where you get a post-it note and stick it to yourself, say on a leg or something and teach the hound to look at it. Any other easy but useful ideas would be much appreciated for my first commands.

LOL... not with ME. I'm HOPELESS at training... I can't blame the hounds because I think its me!

Awww... don't get stressed, as long as nessie has manners, it really doesn't matter too much does it? My greyhounds can't 'sit'... its just physically impossible for those two so I'm pretty sure they wouldn't pass beginners! This should make you feel better: My sisters' dog only passed PUPPY school because I taught it to 'speak' using a tin of jellybeans we got for buying heaps of paint.... all the other tricks were useless, she had no idea. The trainer frowned on her because she didn't approve of the 'speak' command. This dog will protect my sisters' toddler with its life. Whenever I bring my dogs around on lead she stands between them and the child. So, I guess it really doesn't matter that she doesn't do any official commands.

Hmm... sounds hard for a greyhound. I thought I'd start with "lay down on the bed and go catatonic for a few hours"???

Well... they are pretty good at knowing when dinner is ready, its usually a good time to get up and head towards their bowls when they hear the spoon "clang-clang" on the side of the bowl (I clang after stirring to get the last of the mince off) they should get the clicker thing! I'll get the rapi-gel out for the whiplash... just in case :D

They lounge with me in the loungeroom, so I'm thinking if I click at random intervals and treat right away, they will get it pretty quick... or should I do an intense 10-15 min session instead?

Cool.... thankyou... I'll update when I've got it to that stage, would you mind helping me with the next step after that? How long does it generally take to charge it up? Suppose it depends on the pooches right? Is it possible to clicker two doggies at the same time or am I pushing it?

Okay, here's the deal, I'm starting obedience for my two greys but I'd like to get some basic clicker training going first. These two are retired racers and are 2 years old. They aren't obedient and don't even have recall LOL They are like big stoopid cats hehe! I need some basics on clicker training... do I 'çharge' the clicker or not? How do I do it??? I've googled clicker training but I wanna do it for FREE! Any help would be MUCH appreciated. Ta, Imogen

How sad... poor boy and poor olly and poor Asha. Such a sad moment.

look how good the sore bits look. (look how chicken my pooch is! LOL!)

And... a close-up (PS sorry if this thread with all its pics is annoying... I just thought it might be cool to see how it all heals, for future reference!)

Okay... the last of the stitches came out last night and everything looks okay. I left them in for a bit longer to let the bottom ones heal a bit more. He itched it a bit and made the 'puckered' skin sore... but its not bad. PIC!

close up

Okay...here are the top stitches out.

Yup! The bottom hole is looking a bit weepy. He keeps leaning his neck on his legs and I think he may have got some germs in there but I have been bathing it once a day so hopefully its not too bad. I have also been applying a topical antibiotic/antibacterial cream twice a day. The stitches on the top wound came out last night (I'm getting the hang of this!) and it has healed really nicely. I'm going to leave the bottom stitches for another couple of days as the skin there is still quite red (because of the lack of blood-flow due to him being 'de-gloved' (skinned) there and it hasn't healed as well as the top bit. There is still a few raw looking patches and scabby bits YUCK! I tried to take some 'stitch-less' pics for you all to see my handywork but he wouldn't be in that... I guess I've messed around with the poor boy enough! (just wait until he sees the christmas hat I bought today...the camera battery is charged up in anticipation too! ha,ha!)

Johnsons baby shampoo

Sorry they are so dark... the bottom tube hole is a bit goopy looking huh?

I have new pics today...10 days after the ordeal (I haven't taken any stitches out (tonight))

LOL... I was more scared he'd bite me if I did it wrong. He was very brave. It was the weirdest thing... looked like a worm moving under the skin when I slowly pulled it out... like in a sci-fi movie! Gross!

Well, I took the tube out last night :D It was freaky but the vet assured me I could do it. I've been bathing the wound with plain old warm water once a day to clean it up a bit and the skin which is 'slothing' off is almost all gone now (the bit which looks like a scab around the bottom of the tube) It was caused by being wet from the tube and the 'de-gloved' skin not really getting enough blood-flow. Gingko is feeling better and is almost bouncey again. He has a funny head slant to one side where he is sore but I'm confident it will disappear as it hurts less. He is already correcting it a little. He had a check-up on Saturday morning and all seems well, I was give some cream to keep the wounds a bit softer and it has some topical antibiotics in it too.... Now I'm not looking forward to taking the stitches out myself... which the vet says I should do myself too! (I think because Gingko STRESSES at the vets) No pics yes, but will try to get some tonight!