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    Friday, December 25th, 2009
    dogsintraining
    [ snuck ]
         		5:32p
    Walk/anti-trip training, and 'let's not collect dead things' training.... Kelpie
     Hi, I've got a 12 week old Australian Kelpie, parents are working sheep dogs.

    We live on a rural property on the outskirts of a small (hot!) country town (in Western Australia) - 6acres is our block (which we live in a seperate house 100m from the parentals), only have neighbours on one side, rest of the land around is CALM protected natural bush (and excessive amounts of bunnies).

    I've had Peggy two weeks - she's learnt to sit, come, stay and play fetch in that time. She's also learnt to tolerate a collar and lead (she'd had NO training before), but she's always winding it around us as we walk, or trying to jump at the front of us as we walk through our courtyard. She's a major trip hazard. I've tried a 'choke chain' but she is miserable on it and refuses to walk (and dragging her around 6acres is unfun!), and while I'll keep at that for the lead, I need some help on the "jumping and walking in front of me" - I already lean into her and tell her firmly "no jumping" so she falls back. I tell her to sit (and then pat and reward her) and rarely pat / interact if she's jumpy beyond "NO! Peg SIT". Which she'll then do. But how do I get her to stop jumping in the first place?

    Problem numero two is the 'eating of dead things' - we have all sorts of dead things around - birds that fly into windows, bunnies (died of myxi, calc. virus, bait, old age, trucks :P), mice, more mice, some baited mice (parents in law have Talon bait in their working shed - Peg is on watch right now for gobbling 'something small' in that shed earlier today), bobtails, all manner of beasties - We live more than 100km from the nearest vet - and while we'll get some Vit K in town next week (as a backup), we need her to NOT EAT THE DEAD THINGS.  Ideas?

    And for your viewing pleasure... ( Read more... )
    Thursday, December 24th, 2009
    dogsintraining
    [ dagnyt4gg4rt ]
         		10:39p
    Going in the winter
     With all of the new snow on the ground, I'm having some issues getting my boxer, Ollie, to go pee and poo. He doesn't want to go on the snow (possibly because the snow makes his feet too cold), but he doesn't like going on the sidewalk much better. The last couple of days, he hasn't gone more than half the time, and we're pretty sure he's using the kitchen, where he's penned, as a toilet when we're not home.
    Whenever he does go, he gets tons of praise and treats, but it doesn't seem to be having much effect. Does anyone have any suggestions for persuading him to go when and where we want him to?
    dogsintraining
    [ sobeknefru ]
         		2:10p
    december's training challenge
     this is a video of tara showing off her sweater I crocheted her. It had an extra element to the challenge because I did not have a pattern and needed to call her over for numerous fittings to make sure it was the right size and could come off easily. sweater

    this is Tara in her blinking antlers. I make her wear them when she is being a therapy dog and through the coffee shop and bank drive through (she gets extra treats).showing off her antlers
    dogsintraining
    [ lemmingpie ]
         		11:07a
    weird housetraining issue
     I have a 7 month old pitbull puppy that I have had since she was 3 months old. Got her from a shelter with no indication of any history of abuse.
    She's always been normal around people, etc. She will put her ears down and sit still for petting if a very tall person approaches her, but once she gets the initial meeting out of the way, she acts normal around them.

    Her housebreaking has been going VERY well, in fact, she hasn't had any accidents for the last three weeks or so, and before that they were very few and far between.

    Now, last night at her puppy class, we go into the pet store, she sees a tall, male employee, and goes up to him, sits and lets him pet her, but she pees while he is doing so.
    Later that night after we were leaving the store, she did the same thing with him.

    Then, later in the evening, we are relaxing and watching TV (and she HAD been outside to go to the bathroom, as normal), and she goes over to her dog bed, squats and pees.
    She did it again this morning, after she had been outside for quite a while and had definitely peed out there.

    The bed is 2 weeks old, we just got it for our two dogs to enjoy in the basement. She plays with my older dog on there, has all her toys horded in there, and sleeps on it quite a bit after she is tired.

    Any ideas?
    We're a little concerned about a bladder infection. But I've never had any trouble housebreaking a dog and don't understand these behaviors. And I'm not sure if it is behavior vs a physical problem.
    She has never actually peed when being confronted with a tall person, and has always loved meeting people. And she has never deliberately chosen a place to pee inside when having a housebreaking accident, much less her own favorite bed. She had just sort of gone wherever the mood took her when she was still learning.

    Anyway, help?
    Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
    dogsintraining
    [ harliquinnraver ]
         		9:53p
    tonight we worked on "wait" both on leash and off. Ruby did beautifully and set an excellent example.

    so anyway...PICS!
    ( Read more... )

    so we know sit, down, stand, wait, stay, steady, heel (sorta), paw, leave it, take it, and we are working on her recall. shes easily distracted so this may take some time.

    also, 'leave it' is not working with her and the cats. she will leave food, treats, toys but not the cats or *ahem* cat poop. obviously eating cat poop is something id like to discourage but so far, we arent having any luck. any tips?

    and thanks for giving me your thoughts on Sirius Dog Training months ago. they are FANTASTIC! ive been very pleased. we start their Puppy II class in March.

    Current Mood: accomplished
    dogsintraining
    [ recreatexme ]
         		1:24p
    "WAIT. i think i lost a treat!"
     Photobucket


    frankie's mini drills. (i'm having issues with embedding it on here, when you click the image it'll just take you to my photobucket to watch the video).
    dogsintraining
    [ meran_flash ]
         		4:44a
    Dogs vs. Cats, Dogs vs. World


    Hi everybody, first post here. I've read through several posts on this subject in this community and have found some good ideas, but I thought I'd make a post of my own for a little personalized advice.

    I have two dogs: Nikki, a large female Pharaoh hound/something-or-other mix, perhaps five years old, and Bear, a male medium Rottweiler/something-or-other mix, maybe four years old. Both are very smart and terribly sweet and affectionate, but they've recieved pretty minimal training from my mom and I. It's become pretty apparent that this is going to have to change soon, but I'm here looking for advice on one issue in particular--basically, aggression against cats and other dogs.

    ( Read more... )

    The bottom line is that we really, really want Bear and Nikki to be able to interact safely with these cats. Having the the cats restricted to one room plus outdoor access isn't really a long-term solution because it limits their human interaction too much. I've had dogs successfully live with cats in the past, and really wish it could be that way now.

    I've been reading on this community about prey drive and impulse control issues. I think both are at work in Bear and Nikki, the latter especially with Nikki. The two of them have really recieved very little training so I'm hoping this is just a matter of them being taught, but I need to learn how to do that for them.

    SO, after all that tl;dr... advice? Is there hope? I really appreciate any responses and advice that anybody could offer.

     

    ETA: So just this morning we've been given reason to believe that neither of these problems are quite as bad as we've thought. The aggression towards visiting dogs is nonexistent--Nikki showed none, and it turns out the growling Bear has done in the past was due to nervousness and tension (he's a nervous dog). We also have reason to believe that if the dogs see a cat, but another more interesting stimulus comes along, the dogs forget about the cat.

    dogsintraining
    [ abserdman ]
         		2:44a
    A quick fetch question.
    Since he was a little puppy Kota's enjoyed chasing toys but he always ran off with them and chewed them in a corner rather than bringing them back.

    ( Cue cute photo )

    After some work in my hallway with a clicker I finally got him bringing them back to me. Part-way. He drops them about 6ft away from me and I can't get him to bring them any closer. I ignore him and he picks it up and drops it and picks it up and drops it and picks it up and drops it and eventually it rolls close to me and I pick it up and throw it for him. He knows it's something about the picking it up and dropping it that gets him what he wants but he doesn't seem to be getting the hang of the fact that I want the ball close to me. Even marking the moment the ball gets close enough isn't helping.

    Should I just perservere? Will he pick it up eventually? He loves playing fetch now (as long as Sparky's not playing too) and will follow me around with his ball bugging me for hours after I've thrown it for him.
    Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
    dogsintraining
    [ whenmostiwink ]
         		7:00p
    training a fearful dog
     Hi all. I'm new here, and I come with a question :-)

    My husband and I just adopted a 1.5 year old setter/border collie/spaniel/something like that mix on Friday. We'd really like to start training her to do the basics - sit, stay, come, heel, etc. We'd also love to be able to play with her - fetch, tug-of-war, etc. However, this poor dog, although she's unbelievably sweet and cuddly, is afraid of EVERYTHING, and we're having trouble finding a way to reward her in training. She's not hugely food oriented, so treats don't do much (and most/all of the books we've looked at require some form of treating). In fact, she's super tentative in taking a treat, and then runs away to eat it if she does take it. Every odd sound frightens her, so when we tried acclimating her to a clicker, it scared the crap out of her. She doesn't really seem to play with any of her toys, so we can't reward her with a toy. We've been rewarding her with praise and pets, but I'm not sure how far that will get us, especially since many of the books we have use a treat to direct the dogs attention.

    So, I guess this is twofold.
    1. Any ideas on how we can help her get over her fearfulness other than just being super patient with her and giving her time? We obviously will do that, but we don't want to have to wait forever to start training!
    2. What on earth can we use to train her if she's scared of clickers/treats/toys/the entire world?

    And any other tips or tricks or advice for dealing with a highly fearful dog would be much appreciated.

    We called the shelter to see if their trainer could give us some tips, but he wasn't in so we left a message, so I thought I'd ask you fine folks in the meantime.

    thanks!
    dogsintraining
    [ dragonflypony ]
         		12:02a
    random thought/question
     So my puppy finally destroyed one of his soft toys and got the squeaker out of it, so toy went in trash and squeaks in my pocket to torment pooch who was looking for toy, sorry cheap entertainment...

    Any way...I had a thought, could i use this squeaker as a replacement for a clicker? I've never done any clicker training before and dont really know how to use one but could this 'toy' be a good addition to our training? pup struggles with the 'ADD factor' as ive dubbed it, we get distracted very easy and cant focus for long periods. So i was thinking this attention grabber/reward could be a good tool for us. What do you all think?

    Sorry this was so mumbo-jumbo its late for my tired, post-exams, not knowing if im still in program at school, holiday stress brain.... :)
    Monday, December 21st, 2009
    dogsintraining
    [ ericacartman ]
         		9:52p
    Barking, snapping from a young dog.
    Hi there, just wanted to ask for some tips about changes in my dog's behavior.

    My dog is a hound mix that is about 1 and 1/2 years old. I take her to my dog park every other day, where she plays perfectly with other dogs (the place where I board her and let her have doggy play groups even uses her to make less unfriendly dogs more comfortable). She just wants to play, play, play.

    She used to be this way with other people as well. After initially barking at someone at the door, she would quickly warm to strangers if she could tell I was at ease around them.

    But now, she goes way overboard on the barking and even snaps at guests who have been to the house a number of times. Perhaps it's just because these repeat guests aren't her biggest fans? But she knows who they are. But, sometimes she will bark and bark and kind of growl, then calm down and lick the person, then get suspicious and bark again.

    This kind of aggressive, protective behavior seems to be getting worse. She will warm to a new person being here then if the person moves into another room, she might chase after them, even trying to jump on them while barking.

    This is not behavior I am used to seeing from her as a puppy. As an older dog, she seems to be getting a lot more mouthy. I thought her behavior and lack of aggression was something I had a handle on.

    Any advice?
    dogsintraining
    [ aminotyours ]
         		6:22p
    Pooping in the crate?
     Hi everyone,

    I searched for other entries on this and didn't find any, but my apologies if I missed something. I have a female beagle/pug who will be 13 months old on Christmas. I crate her when I go to work for the day, but my boyfriend and I work different shifts, so she's not usually in for more than a couple of hours. She'd been doing great from the time we got her until mid-October, when she started pooping in the crate while we were gone. I know this isn't supposed to be normal behaviour, so we started making extra sure she went before we put her in the crate etc, but it didn't seem to help.

    I consulted a professional dog trainer, who advised me that I should put the partition back in the crate. She also said if I came home and found poop in the crate I should ignore her for a few minutes and then speak sternly to her. I tried all of these things, and she started having MORE accidents. It has now gone from a couple of times a week to almost daily.

    I came home today and there was a huge mess. She had only been in the crate for about 90 minutes, but it was all over the crate, the dog, the floor and all over me when I took her out. I'm at my wits end. Can anyone suggest ANYTHING else I can do?


    edit: Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

    Current Mood: depressed
    dogsintraining
    [ miss_teacher ]
         		3:18p
    OT lol
     A bit OT, but I thought this was funny.

    I saw this title in a recent yahoo group digest email:


    Toy/Food drive


    and was interested in reading the post and comments. Until I realized it was a non-dog yahoo group and was a post about a charity drive.

    I think I have too much dog on the brain. Is that possible? Nah!
    Friday, December 18th, 2009
    dogsintraining
    [ itstimetogrow ]
         		11:46p
    ♥
     I just have to say I'm so pleased with Jingles. She hasn't had an accident inside since last week and she goes in her crate happily. Right now the crate is near the fireplace, Jingles inside and the door open. She knows when it's her bedtime and just makes me happy.

    We're still working on the climbing onto people's legs when we're eating or when she wants to be picked up. I love to pick her up and hold her but when I decide.

    I'm trying to get her to stop rushing to any door when it opens. Do you guys have any ideas?

    A little background: My previous dog, Osita, would bolt out the front door if we weren't careful. That led to many frustrating days of chasing her around the neighborhood with a leash because she SO fast that no one could catch her. Again, my previous dog was something else! She had this craving to run and run LONG distances. We couldn't walk her because she would DRAG us so instead I would make her play fetch until she would plop down tired or take her to the dog park for a few hours every so often. She somehow jumped the brick wall, ran onto a main street and was hit by a car. She was my first dog as an adult and sadly I had to learn the extremely hard way the consequences of not keeping a dog exercised. That's how she died 

    I'm so afraid of that happening again that I'm trying to teach Jingles that the yard is GOOD place where she WANTS to stay. We're doing everything different with Jingles. We walk her for at least 30 - 45 minutes every day, play with her in the yard and in the house. 

    Jingles dislikes loud noises so if she follows me to the front door I stomp my foot and tell her "away" in a firm voice. I don't yell, scream or hit her. If she doesn't get the message I take her collar, lead her to the entrance to the kitchen, have her sit, down and stay. It last for all of 2 seconds and she's back at the front door. We have MANY dogs in our neighborhood so I can understand there must be many scents she would love to explore but I'm pretty sure some of these dogs would love to have her over...for lunch! Thanks for any tips!

    Current Mood: happy
    Current Music: Christmas Shoes - NewSong
    dogsintraining
    [ disgruntledgrrl ]
         		9:36p
    To train the dog - or the roommates?
     I took in a stray pitbull and there have been bumps. My husband and I never owned a dog together and my last dog was 1987. Turns out that's the same year my husband had one, too.

    Here's the main issue I'd like some help on.

    After 4 weeks, the roommates have finally said they actually DO mind the dog on the sofa.
    4 weeks of saying it was ok, allowing him to sit with them and even use my command "couch" (he can still enjoy the fire place without getting too close).

    Do I even bother at this point to train him to no longer get on the couch? Seems rather mean and sadly it comes at a bad time. I've realized that I'm allergic to my dog's hair (I get hives if the hair pricks my skin) and he him plus the cats equal asthma triggers. So I must remake my bedroom a pet free zone and start teaching him to stay off the bed when before he was allowed at the foot. The "foot of the bed" thing he came with. Apparently someone let him stay on their bed, too.

    I'd hate to think what's going through his head when suddenly he's not allowed on any furniture. Usually letting him on the couch is the only sure fire way to get him to calm down. He has a weird tic where it doesn't matter if he's been outside an hour or 5 minutes - he is super excited to be let in. Everytime. He even pops himself in the face with his own wagging tail. Saying "Couch" usually gets him to curl up, and simmer down.

    Also a recent vet visit revealed he will be having hip problems in the future so his couch surfing days are numbered anyway. He's got maybe 2-3 years at the most before the hips start acting up seriously.


    So - forbid him from all furniture in one fell swoop or let him at least keep the couch?
    dogsintraining
    [ swingkitten9 ]
         		5:38p
    Noises
     Ozzie is terrified of noises. When we got him, his former owners told us that they were rehoming him because he was afraid of the neighbor's peacock. Fair enough, that's easy to avoid! As it turns out, he has a severe phobia of any sharp, short noises, including gunshots, whistles, peacocks, fireworks, a clicker (we can't go to any classes that use clickers!), Snapple lids, or pen clicks. Any of these sounds send him over his threshold and he won't take a treat, even his very very favorite treats.

    We live near a firing range, and he isn't afraid of the gunshots he hears when he's in the backyard, although clickers terrify him at home or anywhere else. He doesn't bat an eye at thunder, even window-shaking thunder. But a woman's whistle to her dog at the park today sent him into a terrified escape attempt. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and it's pretty bad. Any ideas to counter-condition him? He won't even take his very favorite treat.
    dogsintraining
    [ pet_doctor ]
         		2:46p
    Dog Food Aggression
     Lately my dog, and my parents dog...has been aggressive about their food. Not towards people, I can take their food away, stick my hand in their bowl/mouth etc. No problems! But the last week or so, whenever Bea(my dog) or Bonnie(their dog) are eating, and the other dog gets to close they snarl and snap! They have never done this. I have started letting them eat in seperate rooms so they don't hurt each other. Any suggestions on how to correct this?
    Thursday, December 17th, 2009
    dogsintraining
    [ carla_rae ]
         		10:08p
    I'm sad and frustrated
     A bunch of stuff I need opinions/advice on!

    Today my min pin, Parker, went to the vet for his last puppy shots. The last time he went, there was no one else around... this time, there was 6 other dogs. He has been going to socialization classes, so he just wanted to meet all these dogs and play. But he couldn't... all the people there didn't want to do that... I was sitting near a black lab 4 month old puppy and he was very obedient. I felt embarassed... Parker would NOT stop whining and he wouldn't listen to me. I'm so frustrated.

    How can I make him NOT whine? Around other dogs and in general? He whines and whines and it gets to crying and howling. When he's in the same room as me and he whines, I try to ignore him so he'll eventually stop and he never does. It's winter and below zero but we play fetch down a 20-30 foot hall in my room... He has interactive toys and I try to keep him occupied all the time that he's awake. Like, if I wanted to stay in bed all day, he would be right on my lap and be fine. He's really attached to me, he always wants to be by me and/or on me. He's crate trained and does fine in there all day, but if I leave him in my room for a few minutes, he whines and cries so loud.

    My dad also mentioned that our previous dogs never bit like he does.. or else he just doesn't remember. I'm doing all the things I should be doing to curb the biting/nipping... putting him down, leaving the room (but when I walk out of the room, he starts whining and crying for me), yelping, telling him no, etc. So will that go away?

    He also whines and barks while I'm making food and especially while I'm eating it. I've been giving him a toy where the treats fall out every time I eat, but that only keeps him occupied for so long, he still knows I'm eating. And he's never gotten table scraps before!

    He gets super excited when I get out his food, and he starts barking, it's usually if he's super excited, it's not barking at everything, all the time, which is good! So what can I teach him so he'll stop when I say, or something?

    I guess that's it for now.
    dogsintraining
    [ kayden_eidyak ]
         		7:41p
    Reliabilty and follow through
     I have two questions that are sort of related. I have gotten answers from my trainer for both, but I want to know if there are any other ways to go about what I need to do.

    I have a Basenji, so while she's very smart, she doesn't always really care about what I want. I've had a lot of fun training her and finding out what makes her tick and she's learned a lot.

    1.)However, I'm having difficulty getting her to do things outside of an actual training situation when treats aren't given freely. For example, I ask her to sit for either no reason at all, or to do something like go outside, she'll look at me and dash off the other way. Sit is her best "thing," she knows it really well. But it's like if I don't have a really good reward for her, she's not going to do it.

    Now, I know I'm dealing with a hound and she's not going to be at my beck and call for every little thing. But how can I wean her off her desire for a reward for every little thing and still have her do what I want? I've used life rewards, and they work to an extent, but there isn't any real reliability. I would like to compete in Rally with her someday, so doing what I ask for no immediate reward is sort of important.

    2.)Also, how is the best way to respond to the refusal of a cue? If I tell Jetta to sit and she just doesn't, what is the best thing to do? I know I can't let her get away with not following directions because she'll think she can blow me off whenever she wants.

    This is what I've been told to do by my trainer for the above situations.

    1.) I've been told that I need to be extremely consistent when asking for various behaviors. If I'm going to ask Jetta to sit before she can go outside, I ALWAYS have to ask her to sit to go outside until the behavior becomes automatic. By asking for a sit sometimes and not others, Jetta thinks she can "get away" with refusing because she knows the next time she goes out I might not ask her to sit. Thus, she knows that if she holds out long enough, she won't have to earn getting to go outside. I'm told I should do similar things in many different situations with different cues until they become part of the routine, then I can start mixing them up. My trainer has also has reminded me that just because Jetta knows "sit" in the kitchen, doesn't mean she knows it in the bedroom or the bathroom or with three other dogs all clamoring to go outside and that this is all part of the proofing process. I'm aware of this and I know I need to make sure she knows her behaviors in more situations and locations than she currently does.

    Does that make sense?

    2.) I'm told to never ask Jetta to do something if I'm not 100% positive she'll do it, or unless I'm able to enforce it. If I ask her to sit in a situation she KNOWS sit in, and she doesn't sit, assuming she's wearing a leash, I'm to pull up on her collar with slightly, with just a little pressure (not a pop) until she sits again and them immediately stop pressure and praise.

    I know this doesn't hurt her and is probably not "damaging," and maybe I'm just worried about the term "correction," but is there anything else that can be done to ensure that the dog follows through on behavior that it already knows? I'm not talking about follow through when they're learning a behavior, I would never correct for that. I mean after they've already learned it and they are deliberately choosing not to obey. Any comments or suggestions or better ideas for how to think about these situations would be appreciated.

    ETA: Sorry - I've tried adding paragraph breaks twice and the formatting keeps getting screwed up when I post it.

    Current Mood: cold
    dogsintraining
    [ shunhuggedme ]
         		11:15a
    Take it!
     So I have a 10 year old rescue GSD.

    Sometimes, he surprises the crap out of by doing things I ask him (sometimes I will jokingly tell the dogs to do something and I know they have no clue what I'm saying, and I don't expect them to do anything but look at me funny).

    Last night, I was holding a toy. He usually does not play with toys. He looked interested in it, so I held it out to him and said 'Take it'.

    Well, guess what he did! He did not keep it in his mouth and promptly spit it out - but he will take things. In fact, I figured out he will take ANYTHING I hold out to him. I tried pens, shoes, remotes, keys, paper, towels, etc etc. If I say 'take it', he will.

    And then spit it out. He won't pick it up off the ground, though, and he won't carry anything.

    Now because this is all kinds of awesome, how do I get it to be better, to the point where I can have him actually pick things up off the ground and bring it to me? I don't really need him to be able to tell what an item is, just if I point at something and say 'take it', he will. I'd LOVE to teach him to say, carry something, too, like a purse.

    And how do I get him to not spit it out immediately? I'm afraid if I offer him a treat he'll spit it out faster just to get to the treat, heh.

    And while we're on the subject, how would you teach a dog to 'take it' when they don't like to put things in their mouth? I'd love to teach the same to my Great Dane but I'm not sure how to get her started.

    And so it's not all text. ( Cute photo of old shepherd )
    dogsintraining
    [ petulant ]
         		6:51a
    retrieving a ball in the snow - left vs. right
     I want my dog to learn something and I know it can be taught, I just can't think of how to go about it!

    Darce loves tennis balls no matter what the season and now that we're under six inches of snow, fetch has turned into more "run run snuffle snuffle find! run back drop snuffle snuffle find! drop in-hand". Which is great because it exercises his brain too and tires him out that much faster. The only problem is when he shoots off in the opposite direction of the ball and doesn't see where it lands. In the other seasons this isn't a problem because he searches for it systematically and eventually finds it. But he never gives up and in the bitter cold, that can be a bad thing. ( So I'm trying to teach him one of two things: (plus a photo so it's not text only! )
    Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
    dogsintraining
    [ nerdycellist ]
         		9:39p
    Puppy Book Recs?
     I have a friend who recently adopted a basset puppy. This isn't her first dog, but it is her first puppy. Right now the pup's going through the teething/bitey stage and she's not sure what to do. I suggested the yelp/withdraw method, but I also don't have any actual puppy experience. I have several dog behavior and training books, but all of them are general or geared more toward fine-tuning adult dogs. Can anyone recommend a good puppy training book?
    dogsintraining
    [ injenius ]
         		12:18p
    Conditioning a show dog
     This might be a bit OT, but what do you guys think would help build up more muscle/condition a dog better*:

    -Long walks on a leash at a controlled pace with/without her doggie backpack

    -Letting her loose in a fenced in field to sprint/run free

    *(In addition to her normal daily exercise)

    And so its not just text, here is the dog in question - Audrey, my 15mo Field Spaniel:
    ( Read more... )
    dogsintraining
    [ rishu ]
         		9:28a
    :(
     Mädi's housetraining has been going really well since mid November. But as of last Saturday, she's relapsed. It makes me sad to think I'm not doing things right for her.

    Her biggest problems are when I feed her then get myself dressed/ready for work (in the 15/30 minutes window between her meal and her post-meal walk). She sneaks off to pee/poop.

    Should I start doing the umbilical cord routine? I sort of wanted to avoid it since she is prone to separation anxiety. But it might be a better option.

    Thanks for everyone's help. This comm is great!
    Monday, December 14th, 2009
    dogsintraining
    [ shunhuggedme ]
         		9:46p
    Agility run!

    Here is a video of my dog's run through tonight. Bear in mind Cozmo is an 11 year old mongrel, so he isn't as fast as some other dogs, but that's ok. We take it at a pace he's comfortable with, keep the jumps very low, and get checked with a vet to make sure he can still do it.


    At any rate, this is how his progress has been. He still hates tunnels, and can not weave, but we've come pretty far, I think.


    If anyone has any bits of advice on my handling, it would be more than welcome :)
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