Training Two Puppies At Once

[koalathebear]

I'll be sending Mindy to you to teach her to "are you shy" (paw over muzzle).

We haven't taught Hoover "are you shy" yet ... bring on the sticky tape! Also, I'm sure Max#1 won't mind me sharing it but Max has learned a slightly different version of "shy" where he's on his side. It's very cute and the video is

.

Elbie would probably HATE her though, she is really busy and also a face kisser (to other dogs). You're guys are going great and seem to be getting on so well!

Hah hah. Elbie's slowly learning to get along with a pesky younger brother … Hoover’s always trying to climb into the same dog bed to snuggle. Elbie gets a very long-suffering look on his face but will endure Hoover so long as Hoover doesn’t fall asleep with a paw on his face.

Thanks for your kind words. I was quite stressed about whether they’d get along at first but they’ve been getting along great and so far Elbie’s training has ‘stuck’ and hasn’t slid backwards because of having a new puppy. Hoover’s been good about following Elbie’s lead in terms of toilet-training and going to his crate when told and Elbie seems inspired to work harder at tricks because of the new puppy

[Max#1]

Heee heeeee!

For me sticky tape wasn't the answer. I had more success with small pieces of 'treat' (I remember using ham), that I managed to stick onto his nose using vegemite (mine's not a peanut-butter kind of dog...). This had the benefit of being self-rewarding too.

Ah - I so wish I was having the dilemma of training two dogs at once! But KTB, it does look like you're doing a great job - and having a lot of fun as well!

[koalathebear]

As well as rolling over, the dogs are now doing their spins at the same time, which is quite cute. Short video is

. We haven't figured out how to make each one only do the command on their name though. Elbie does the commands regardless of whose name we use Edited November 12, 2010 by koalathebear

[Alfie02]

Hi koalathebear

Your two pups are just beautiful, very cute video!

Sorry that this is off topic but....

A little while back you had a thread about getting a kelpie pup, and I cant seem to find it? Kelpies are wonderful dogs and just wondering if you could link me to the thread about where you got him from?

Thanks

PS. Sorry again for going off topic!

[koalathebear]

Hi koalathebear

Your two pups are just beautiful, very cute video!

Sorry that this is off topic but....

A little while back you had a thread about getting a kelpie pup, and I cant seem to find it? Kelpies are wonderful dogs and just wondering if you could link me to the thread about where you got him from?

Thanks

PS. Sorry again for going off topic!

Thanks! We love our little monsters. And no worries for going off-topic. I've sent you a PM about it. Hope you can have a little Kelpie puppy, too soon!!!

[ravenau1]

I love that shot Elbie's eyes always make him look like he's had too much coffee! Very alert

[Daisy]

Wow Hoover is stunning! I haven't been on DOL much lately, although I was reading some of your threads about kelpies, and I missed finding out where you got him from - care to share? I have a soft spot for kelpies, I don't have one myself, but grew up with working line kelpies, all registered with the WKC... I was interested in your colours thread... growing up we had, over the years, two cream kelpies, a solid red, a black and tan, and a blue and tan. Because we had two creams it surprises me that they don't seem to be as common as the other colours.

Anyway, sorry to go OT, and your dogs are gorgeous

[koalathebear]

Wow Hoover is stunning! I haven't been on DOL much lately, although I was reading some of your threads about kelpies, and I missed finding out where you got him from - care to share? I have a soft spot for kelpies, I don't have one myself, but grew up with working line kelpies, all registered with the WKC... I was interested in your colours thread... growing up we had, over the years, two cream kelpies, a solid red, a black and tan, and a blue and tan. Because we had two creams it surprises me that they don't seem to be as common as the other colours.

Anyway, sorry to go OT, and your dogs are gorgeous :p

Thank you! And thank you so much for your suggestion about talking to Barbara Cooper. She is so nice and I had two VERY long chats with her when we were looking for Hoover. She was extremely frank in her suggestions and really took the time to talk me through various breeders. She steered us towards the smaller breeders who were more personal and conscientious. I talked to breeders recommended here on DOL (they ended up all being show breeders), I talked to a lot of the breeders that Barbara recommended and we ended up going with a small breeder in Kempsey, a lady whose dog had delivered a litter of 3 Red/Tan 3 Red/Tan & 3 Black/Tan. You can see more photos of Hoover here and also of his littermates.

She was the most warm of all the breeders. She spoke of all her dogs with great affection, described them to me so beautifully and she had a smile in her voice when she spoke of Hoover. She went through Elbie's website in great detail, knew about Elbie and so recommended Hoover on the basis of his personality. He really is the most lovely, delightful and chilled little dog. We did have some reservations about getting a puppy that was already 3 months old (see this thread) but Hoover's just such a beautiful, zen little thing - playful, loves cuddles but can be very calm and placid. He's also very smart, so he's every thing a well-bred working Kelpie should be.

Sure you don't want to get back into owning Kelpies?

Kelpies get such bad bad press sometimes, but given our two - Kelpie x and Kelpie, I really don't see any bad qualities in them. They're such smart, loving, funny dogs that keep us laughing and on our toes all the time. Even their occasional naughtiness is usually on the funny side rather than anything serious.

[giraffez]

hahah thats so cute!