Just Midol

I love Basenjis!

I fed mine barf, and he put on around 1kg a week average so his weight gain is normal imo. One of my vets claimed he was growing too fast but his trainer and other reputable people said he was growing fine.

Yeah, a GR from the NDTF thing.

Gizmo sort of likes them. The problem is I need to feed a steady stream of treats which defeats the purpose of using it since I am trying to get him to drop some kilos.

I average my food over a week, not individual days. So each day I roughly calculate how much food he had then at the end of the week I make sure he has had the right amount. Sometimes this results in no food on the last day, sometimes it results in lots of food on the last day.

Yeah I use the same method as Erny and Steve except with Gizmo I now use it as punishment. Ya teach a command using the process I outlined very briefly and not very well above. You issue a command just after you put the stim on and then you guide the dog into the position and release the stim as soon as they are in position. I use the e-collar right from the start. You can combine it with positive reinforcement and your progress will be much much faster if you do. I always use food rewards with gizmo when teaching things. Gizmo now recalls without the e-collar 99% of the time - in the past 2-3 months the only times I've pushed the button is when he saw the army of bush turkeys and a couple of Ibis. For some reason Ibis really get to him, a major distraction - ohhh, and I proofed him on kangaroos. I switch between negative reinforcement and positive punishment depending on the circumstances. When I was proofing him on Kangaroos I was using it as negative reinforcement and applying the stim before the command. I have no idea why I changed how I was using it, it was gradual and unintentional. I think what happened was I stopped needing it so stopped using it then on the rare occasion he didn't recall I had to correct him. I've also discovered that the more eager he is to go for a walk the stronger his command response is. We do all training on walks now as I don't have time to do 30 minute walks and then another 15 minutes or so on training. A lot of people assume the dogs are recalling out of fear/avoidance/whatever. They're not, I will consider recording Gizmo recall just to show his enthusiasm... But I dunno if I can find the camera.

I train that way sort of. Here is how I did it (with the aid of K9Force). with a long line, let the dog wander away (or move away from dog). Press stim button on e-collar, recall command, guide, release stim1, reward the dog on completion with praise/food/whatever. 1: I release the stim as soon as the dog starts turning to start with and the longer we're at it the longer the stim is on. I tend to turn it off as he is in the process of recalling now. It's fairly hard to "explain" this and much easier to show it. The great thing about the e-collar is it gives YOU a sense of control. Without it even if I managed to get a fairly decent recall into Gizmo I'd always be worried he is going to go off after a new distraction or something. The e-collar relaxes me as I know that no matter what, I have control.

Anita, did you intend to sound pretentious in that post and treat anyone who uses corrections as inferior dog trainers and imply they are not using their brains? Just curious.

Are her gums bleeding? And I'd say probably.

No, they don't chew their beds or bowls, they just destroy anything given to them to play with. Bolded bit: Sure that's an option but not the question I asked. Ahhh. Answering the actual question, something I'm not good at. I think it's fair and not fair. I feel meaning giving them a toy then taking it off them I guess if Montu wasn't being raised for security I probably would not dictate how he plays but it would mean he gets very few toys as I have no money tree, and even if I did, he'd eat it. Yay, I answered the question

If my dogs did that I wouldn't get the bastards toys Gizmo doens't "do" toys anyway, he sometimes plays with tugs but only if you just hold it, no pulling. He loves toilet paper, but unfortunately for him, I cbf cleaning it up. Montu doesn't get any toys at all unless it's a tug and I'm playing with him, however, he finds his own toys. He'll play with his water bowl so I have to get metal bowls as he doesn't like those as much. He gets sticks and throws them around, and sits there chewing on the tree. If I feed him in a plastic bowl and forget the bowl is demolished in 3 seconds. He can't have a bad, as that is also gone in seconds. He got a new blanket over his crate last night. Destroyed already. I have a feeling you're dogs are similar to Montu? If so, no, I wouldn't give toys Too expensive.

I dunno if my dogs can pull a cart but I certainly cant use a scooter on our property.. Maybe I could add a small engine to the cart to get em going.

By your local government, sometimes. Solution: Don't tell them.

For some reason I thought they were both in Sydney! I think it's caus' I first met Erny in Sydney. No idea why I thought Nekhbet was though.

http://www.fourpawsk9training.com.au http://www.underdogtraining.com.au Both are members on this forum. First is Kelpie-i, second is cosmolo(SP). I wouldn't hesitate in seeing either of them if the need arose and I just happened to be in Melbourne.