Keyarna Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 (edited) Just felt like updating you guys on our little GSP we got a few weeks ago. We did get to pick his showname aslong at is started with B, so I was very excited. I chose Heiderst Bite The Bullet, going for an old Clint Eastwood / Western feel! He's just over 14 weeks now, and a handful! Toilet training is going sort-of ok, he spends most of his time with me in the house (I don't work). In my bedroom, he hasn't had any accidents for about 2 weeks now, he knows to go to the door and scratch. However in the rest of the house, he hasn't seemed to grasp that I still expect him to scratch to go out, and he will just squat anywhere and go. He does this SO quick I don't have time to react and take him down. He also gets locked on the verandah for a few hours a day, it's a big verandah fully enclosed with a gate so he can't get out. I'm there to check in on him every so often, but again he doesn't grasp he has to go downstairs to do his business. I need to work with that more obviously, but it's hard as I can't be on the verandah with him every second to correct him when he needs to go. Everything else is going alright, I think we've bonded a bit more now which is good. We're enrolled in puppy prep classes now too, we went for the first time on Saturday, it's every weekend for 8 weeks. Half the lesson is socialising with the other dogs/owners, and the half is working on obedience. He already knows sit, lie down, come (some of the time, i'm waiting on a long line so I can correct him if need be) and he knows what AHH, and NO mean. He LOVES his food, so it was a challenge but he now knows to sit and wait when I put down his bowl, until I say 'wait.. ok'. He also knows to wait at the doors if I tell him when we go in and out. He sleeps in a crate at night no worries now, but always gets up to toilet at about 4am, and again at 5am when he wants a feed and he will stay awake then in my room out of the crate. There is one problem i'm trying to solve though. During the day he won't tolerate to be in his crate if he's not sleepy. He whinges and whines something terrible, I don't know why because I thought we'd been pretty good at ignoring him when he was younger when he was whinging. He's better when I leave the room now aswell, he will stay in there happily and not whine like he used to, same as the verandah. However he is terrible when he is locked on the verandah if I am downstairs (highset house). He will whinge and not stop, and pace around constantly if he cannot see me. I always ignore this, but it can go on for 30+ mins until it's time for me to come back upstairs anyway, and the only way to get back in the house is to go up on the verandah. I do wait until a break in the whining, so hopefully he's not associating the whining with me coming back. I think the worst of all though is if he's left alone in the backyard, it's terrible. If i'm there with him, even though I might be ignoring him, he will happily go off and amuse himself. But as soon as I leave (the backyard is fenced, so he can't get into the front yard etc) even if he can still see me, or if go upstairs, it starts. I guess I just need to leave him for shorter times and reward for quiet, until he gets used to being there longer? I really don't want him to develop separation anxiety. On a better note, i'm super happy as I found out there is handling classes here every two weeks. The next is tomorrow night, but it's the only one before our first show which is on April 3rd. He is just SO wiggly and doesn't hold still. What i've been doing every day is just standing him, waiting until he holds still for even a few seconds, and rewarding. I figure once the stand and 'hold' is down packed, we can start working on positioning of the legs and getting him to freestack. His gait is quite good, I didn't need to do to much with him for that. The only problem is sometimes he jumps around a bit or tries to bite the lead, but usually he is good. He keeps by my side most of the time, he just needs to learn to stick with me and not get under my feet when I u-turn, or do a triangle/circle. He's being fed 3 times daily, on Artemis Large Breed Puppy kibble, he also gets some Nature's Gift wet food in the morning. Every week he'll also get a whole raw egg or two, a bit of liver, heart, kidney, chicken wings/necks etc. When he's older I want to switch him completely over to a BARF diet, but while he's a puppy I want to make sure it's a balanced diet for him until I can learn more about nutrition. One thing i'm really dissapointed with is that he hasn't pointed yet. There's been a handful of 'wait, was that a little point?' but nothing else so far. I guess there's still time but reading about all the working dogs, they are usually showing this instinct by 8 weeks. I don't know what to do to encourage him, as I have no idea if there's even areas around here with wild fowl etc to get him going. We do have other birds around the house which he occasionally see's, but he's never pointed. So yeh, that's about it! Sorry, this turned out much longer than I had planned. I forget if I have posted some of these pics in a different thread, so forgive me if I have! No proper stack photo's yet as we haven't been able to get one, and I really want one for his DogzOnline profile! (ignore my unsightly PJ's ) Edited March 23, 2010 by Keyarna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Beautiful puppy. Great photos! Especially the one with his ears flying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kody's_Mum Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 He is a very handsome boy! Love the photos you have posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all that glitters Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Stunning!! :D It's normal for puppies to cry and carry on when you leave them on their own initially, you could try desensitization and get him used to you entering and exiting the door.... leave the veranda and shut the door, then go straight out again before he cries. You have to do this a lot til they get relaxed with you doing that, then you can slowly extend the time you are on the other side of the door for, all the while keeping cool and calm and not praising him with excitement or high energy (which will make him associate anxiety with you leaving and shutting the door). This worked with my girl. She was SHOCKING as a pup, it was so stressful on me too hearing her scream for so long, but it DID get better...it did subside. Even now at a year old she still will cry and yelp a bit when we leave her, depending on her mood. Leaving a radio on helps HEAPS, do you leave him with a kong or tasty chew when you shut the door? They need a distraction to get them through that first period of anxiety sometimes too, it helps a lot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FHRP Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 One thing i'm really dissapointed with is that he hasn't pointed yet. There's been a handful of 'wait, was that a little point?' but nothing else so far. I guess there's still time but reading about all the working dogs, they are usually showing this instinct by 8 weeks. I don't know what to do to encourage him, as I have no idea if there's even areas around here with wild fowl etc to get him going. We do have other birds around the house which he occasionally see's, but he's never pointed. Awww, he is just gorgeous Keyarna!! You really must come and post pics in the GSP thread, hope I haven't missed them if you have already :D Have you had a wing on a string yet for him to point?? This should bring out a lovely point with him, most utility gundog babies are instantly on to this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyarna Posted March 24, 2010 Author Share Posted March 24, 2010 One thing i'm really dissapointed with is that he hasn't pointed yet. There's been a handful of 'wait, was that a little point?' but nothing else so far. I guess there's still time but reading about all the working dogs, they are usually showing this instinct by 8 weeks. I don't know what to do to encourage him, as I have no idea if there's even areas around here with wild fowl etc to get him going. We do have other birds around the house which he occasionally see's, but he's never pointed. Awww, he is just gorgeous Keyarna!! You really must come and post pics in the GSP thread, hope I haven't missed them if you have already Have you had a wing on a string yet for him to point?? This should bring out a lovely point with him, most utility gundog babies are instantly on to this. I have tried a 'fake' wing to see if just the sight alone would get him to point, but obviously he needs the smell aswell. Where on earth do you get a real wing? I do know of quail breeders and I can buy them frozen for feed for my snakes. Perhaps one of those wings would be useful? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CareyJ Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 Aaaawwwww!!! love him! I miss our Little Leila long legs being that size. He has a tail spot and a white nose just like her! When we got Leila at 9 weeks she did the point, but didnt wag her tail. The tail wagging suddenly started at about 11 weeks and I was so excited. She seems to point less now that she did when she was a baby - I must try the wing thing! Do come over to the GSP thread and shower us with more puppy photos!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lab_Rat Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 What a great story! Thanks for sharing with us Keyarna. Hes a beautiful boy, love the photos - especially the one of his flying ears . He certainly looks happy! Rat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussielover Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 GREAT PHOTOS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FHRP Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 I have tried a 'fake' wing to see if just the sight alone would get him to point, but obviously he needs the smell aswell. Where on earth do you get a real wing? I do know of quail breeders and I can buy them frozen for feed for my snakes. Perhaps one of those wings would be useful? I use pigeon wings that I get from retrieving trials (you don't want to look in my freezer ). However, when I got my first Vizsla I wasn't yet involved in trials so didn't have any wings and I just used a piece of cloth on a rope. He was pointing it straight away, however his breeder had him pointing wings beforehand, so he knew the deal. Actually, it was his keeness to point the wing that made the final decision for me on which pup to get Maybe you can contact your local working gundog club and see if they can provide a wing? A quail wing may be too small?? but I'd still give it a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyarna Posted March 24, 2010 Author Share Posted March 24, 2010 (edited) The quails i'm talking about are the Japanese Quails, so theyre quite large as adults. If it is too small I could tie two together. I think there is a club up in Rockhampton that do trials (im in Gladstone), so I might contact them and see if they can help! Edited March 24, 2010 by Keyarna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FHRP Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 Sounds good, the quail wing/s should do the trick! I look forward to puppy pointing pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaC Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 very very cute ... he's growing up nicely! I echo what the others have said, please come over to the GSP thread and post there as well ... we love watching the babies grow up..... Got to love the whinging, some GSP boys are shocking whingers - Morty was a whinger when he was younger and Archie was an absolute shocker of a noisy little bugger - thankfully he is growing out of it ... but he will still whinge every now and again depending on his mood ... quite musical sometimes lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miranda Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 An old gundog man I used to know (RIP Graham) always started his three week old puppies on a duck's wing attached to a fishing line. He swore by this method and always used it to select his 'birdiest' puppies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CareyJ Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 Oh Leila is a massive whinger! We were a bit concerned about leaving her outside for a while but then realised that she was actually talking to herself while chasing a toy around the backyard! She has only just started the Wooooo Woooooo hello. And will even do it in her sleep! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepper and Jax Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 Welcome to the forums, and what a lovely boy you've got! Please come and visit us in the GSP thread and keep up those gorgeous photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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