Need Help With 9 Mth Old Goldie

[Dogsfevr]

Myabe make the OH read here.Sadly he has to understand that the novelty will wear off when the dog gets out of hand with rough house play it will also teach the dog its acceptable play & when it does it with a child who is to blame.

Your OH needs to realize this is a family dog with young children around .

The dog is like your 2 year old,competing for attention & a sponge for learning & its at a crucial age for consistantly in its daily routine.

Until basic house rules are set the dog will get no better,that means house rules for both adults.

A dog with no manners is no joy at all.

[Peachie]

Further to the other great advice you have, you metioned that you dont have time to implement the dog obedience training.

You also said you have outside play time and she gets a good walk. I would incorporate her 'homework' into these sessions. When walking, practice your stop, heel, sit, down commands, and when playing in the yard, practice the downs, sits, settles, etc. (get the kids distracted first). Even just 5 mins a day will help.

Another thing i would mention, is ALWAYS have a pocket with liver treats or something similar (that she LOVES) and have them at the ready when she does something good. Opportunity training - when she sits down on her own, or lays down on her own, and you happen to see her do it, shower her with 'good dog, good sit/stay/down/settle' and a treat. I think it will all help, she just needs to learn what she is supposed to be doing that is good.

I have found that usually, with a dog that plays up, it has simply not been taught what is the right thing to do.

A kong is a great idea for where you said you wanted her to be in the dining room with you when you eat. Make sure she knows where she is supposed to be and give her her kong. If she gets up, tell her no and lead her back to her spot. When she's being good, go over and give her a pat with a 'good girl, good stay'.

Oh, NEVER feed her from the table whilst you are eating. You will never get her to settle whilst you are eating if you do (trust me on that one...)

Good luck.

[rdr71]

thanks everyone. Some GREAT advice - thankyou so much.

I have started making her sit before she comes in, i open the door and make her sit when she gets this side of the door, and then i make her settle. It hasnt gone too badly. She got it quite well. I can get her to stay lying down in a settle for about 8-10 seconds at this stage. And try and extend it all the time.

I had a LONG chat with OH and yes i did get him to read this post. HE didnt like the way he was portrayed but I tihnk it was a heads up for him a bit. He is trying a little more with Sasha to be consistent.

I am making her sit before nearly everything. I am giving her heaps of praise when she is in the house lying down or sitting quietly. She does seem to be a bit more controlled if I keep a heavy eye on her.

I am playing more with her outside on my own - i wil leave the kids watching tv and spend 10 mins with her kicking a ball or something. Just so there is fun interaction for us too.

And when i walk her - there is a small reserve where i say "playtime" and let her run (leash on) - but the rest of the walk is certianly heel, stay, sit practice.

We went back to obedience (yes we still go, someone asked me that) today - havent been for about 3 weeks and she was great. I thnk she is clever but yes I tihnk we are not doing a good enough job on her.

Peachie - this probably will be a dumb question - but when u say kong do u mean kong with food in it? She isnt really a chewy dog - unless it is our socks or something contraband!

I also really liked the triangle of temptation from k9 - and will incororate that too.

sorry - what al;ong post! i just wanted to say how much i appreciate all the advice and i am taking it well on board

Cheers

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

Great news! It's wonderful when you see progress, eh? And the OH...you just need to train him too! :rolleyes:

[Maile]

hi rdr71!

ive lost my goldie for a week now and am trying to look around for her. you just dont know how much u love your dog until she's gone. just thought that i should let you know that, because i know sometimes he can get in your head, but afterall hes a dog and just needs a lil bit of training.

i totally know how you feel, because my ginger was just as cheeky. not that she barks a lot, i rarely hear her bark at people, probaby just a loud "woof" (3 times in a year) when we took her out for walks at night and she spotted some stranger.

however, she does bark when we tied her in our backyard after she behaved especially naughty.. but when we told her a firm "No" she will usually stop.

i think the main problem that i had when i was with her, is that she is just simply too 'curious' and 'loves' pple too much!! whenever we sit down, she will just not sit and stay as she told as and will run for us. u can actually feel the tense in her eyes like she cant wait to give us a nudge.

i find it especially helpful to train her to 'sit' as much as possible for as many things as possible (eat, going out and coming into the house, toy, fetch, etc etc).

god, im missing her so much as im typing this, i hope that you wont find too much of a stress and learn more to just let it all go and go along with it!! =) =) =)

btw. the other thing that irritated me was that she shed a lot!!! haha.

[7464]

Good to see you're making progress.

Two things worked well for Cody. Whispering and a solid word for when he did wrong. When I whispered he listened more. When he does anything wrong at all I say "uh-ah" or "uh". It has to be short, sharp and with a tone of voice that says "I mean business". It also helps if it's a word which you don't often use in every day conversation.

Cody has his bed inside, he knows that is his place and he is not to roam the house, he's not allowed past the doorway into the kitchen and he won't cross the line but that's only because he was consistently told not to. You have to anticipate the dog's next move and get in right away, two seconds later is too late. Cody will not touch a thing in the house unless it belongs to him that includes food which is left next to him.

[lab and poodle]

Dog s can cope with two sets of rules, but it takes them a while to do it. I know it. I am the task master and treat dispenser and stopper of naughty behaviours, and my Wife is the soft never gets angry one. They do take advantage of her.. We accept it and have a laugh about it!

I never got the image of Mum, Dad, two kids and a dog, becuase most often Mum gets to do all the work with the dog. Mum suffers becuase how the kids and dogs behave is a reflection on her, and she wants what seems like short cuts for all the dogs behaviours.Bad for Mum, bad for the Dog.

I train stays like this. Plase dog in down position, walk away 1/2 pace back and reward. Keep going up and up pace wise, and backwards pace wise , and sometimes big rewards and sometimes small rewards, and then have the kids run around,and other dogs and people etc. Do it outside McDonalds etc etc.Then you will get to UD, and it is all so easy, and you can leave your dog outside a shop and that is easy too, but there are no shortcuts. The dog understands what you want, and you haven't had to have an arm wrestle or a growling match.

I reckon that that's the way I would like to be treated,and to paraphrase B.F.Skinner, we are all learning organisms. It is important for your enjoyment, to not spend all the time that you think about your dog through the glasses of a dominance/submission model.

[Kirty]

Just thought I would add my experience. We have an almost 5 year old BC cross and when she was little, she was CRAZY! I was living with my parents at the time and we all wanted Maisie to be inside with us, but she would race around, rev up my mum's dog, and just generally be a nut case! So we put her bed next to the lounge and tied her lead to it. We attached the lead to her and said "On your bed". I think the first few times, she jumped around a bit, but she worked out it was much more comfy just to lay on her bed. She learnt very quickly what that command meant, but she was still able to see us and feel part of the family. We also let her have a toy to chew on, so it wasn't like a punishment. It worked really well for us.

Of course, you could tie her to a table or whatever, in whatever room you are in. Just don't leave her tied up unattended. Good luck.

Oh and the barking when you make her do something is an act of defiance I believe (she is telling you off for making her do something she doesn't want to). So once you have the pack order worked out, it should settle down. Barking outside is boredom I'm afraid. A few food-stuffed toys and maybe a big bone might help her. My dogs also have one of those clam shell things which they LOVE - one side has water to splash in and the other has sand to dig in!