huski

I'd look at crating inside too. Although I always have a bit of a laugh when I read some posts where people get on their high horse appalled by the sheer cruelty of putting dogs outside to sleep. Some dogs like sleeping outside. One of my dogs prefers it, I bring him inside to sit with us in the afternoon/night time and without fail every night he will go and stand at the door to be put out to bed. He sleeps in a soft crate with tonnes of pillows in it on our back deck (which is under cover and semi enclosed). In fact last night, I bought him in, and he stayed for a good five minutes before taking himself out to bed again... I went out to his crate and tried to get him back inside but he didn't want to budge ;) He has no desire to sleep inside at all. And yet, going by some of the responses here, I'm cruel, certain people would never rehome a dog to me, and my 'poor dog' is desperately unhappy I'm not saying all dogs like sleeping outside or that the OP's dog likes it, but the fact is some dogs do!

Having a cue word to signal to a dog that you are going to reward them in drive, expect them to respond to commands in drive, and use it as a way to start them getting into drive is totally different to having a dog who only 'follows rules' when you've given them that cue word. The purpose of giving the command word is to get the dog to start going into drive, whether or not you have their reward or what revs them up on hand. I can ask Daisy if she's 'ready to work' when I don't have a morsel of food in my hand and she'll still start going into drive. I know that Seita, Staranais and I aren't talking about having dogs who only respond to commands or follow the rules when we give them a cue word, we're talking about a completely different thing altogether. I've seen Seita's dog in person and she's pretty amazing when Seita cues her to work in drive. She's done pretty damn well in the obedience ring too Until you've seen the difference between a dog just responding to commands (or rules :p ) and one who is trained to respond to a cue word by going into drive and working in drive it's hard to imagine how huge the difference can be. You may not want your dog quivering with excitement before going into the ring, but if you've built drive properly and taught the dog to have control whilst in drive you have pretty amazing control over the dog when you're working them. Not everyone wants to work in drive and that's fine - but there is a reason why people who do TID give a cue word and its completely different to having "rules" that are only enforced at certain times, or having a dog who only complies to commands when you're training.

I think it depends on what training you do and what you want out of your dog. I always expect my dogs to comply with my commands but in my instance - we are learning to train in drive so what I want when we are just 'around the house' is going to be very different to what I expect when we are training. I don't always want my dog to comply with every command I give in drive, but when I give the 'ready to work' command Daisy will start going in to drive just hearing the words. It's not about telling the dog to listen to you, its about telling them we are about to start training and in my case, its a way to get my dog to start going into drive.

I do ready too. "Are you ready? Ready to work??" and because we do drive training I usually add in an "Are you gunna get it?"

Shelley - my very first day ever at Metro I was walking around doing the intro night, watching all the classes. Aldo came along for a chat and I mentioned I had a beagle pup who was an absolute terror. He did a demo with one of your boys (sorry - I can't remember if it was Potter or Bailey) and I had never been so amazed! It was very inspiring. I think my jaw was literally on the ground Thanks for that. We hope that the achievements we get from our Beagles encourage and "inspire" other Beagle owners to take up the challenge. As you know it is SO rewarding. There is nothing like the feeling you get when you have success in training, from trialling to even just having the dog 'get' the new command you have been teaching them I remember back then watching Aldo with one of your boys and thinking 'no way can my dog do that!' but as we have progressed I can actually see it being a reality

Shelley - my very first day ever at Metro I was walking around doing the intro night, watching all the classes. Aldo came along for a chat and I mentioned I had a beagle pup who was an absolute terror. He did a demo with one of your boys (sorry - I can't remember if it was Potter or Bailey) and I had never been so amazed! It was very inspiring. I think my jaw was literally on the ground

That was my backup plan if chopping it into little pieces and mixing it with tinned sardines didn't work... thankfully at least this week, it worked and they ate it :D I have no idea how long it will last though The dogs had their pig trotter each tonight and they LOVED them - kept them occupied for ages too, they must be quite tough. Will definitely be feeding them again, lots of good mental stimulation too ;)

Funny you mention that oonga, when I bought the tray of liver this week it was already frozen. I was chopping it up when it was only a little bit defrosted, and took a frozen piece and gave it to the dogs... a little while later I found two pieces of now defrosted room temperature raw liver on the floor Dogs, they can be such a PITA sometimes :D

Thanks, HH It was taken a while ago at a DOL meet by PointeeBlab. I love it too

My dogs are so fussy about liver. They won't touch it on its own. They love heart, and I feed it to them once a week as the muscle is good for them and lean too. I bought some lamb's liver this week and chopped it up (they wouldn't even eat the little chopped up bits!) then mixed it with a tin of sardines. Thankfully they ate it I just bought some raw pigs trotters from the butcher today, the dogs have never had them before but boy were they excited when I showed them the bag They'll get one each tonight as a treat. They might be worth trying with your poochies Yellowgirl, as they would be too hard to swallow in one go. Chicken frames might be worth trying as well. Turkey necks are great too, some of them are bloody huge! I feed the dogs twice a day, the morning is their main meal which is usually a raw meaty bone, or heart, dinner is either a small meal of pureed raw vegies and yoghurt; sardines/mackeral; egg; offal or maybe chicken necks or mince. I do feed a BARF diet so I go by the guide my vet gives me (she's a holistic vet so is very supportive of raw feeding).

If you do processed green veges along with some probiotics/natural yoghurt, IMO that's probably about as close as you're going to get to the real thing. Thank you Star - I do feed yoghurt so I will note to combine the grated veggies with the yoghurt! That's what I do - the dogs love it too!

From everything I have learnt - cereals/grains/corn don't have much nutritional value for dogs and are used as fillers, they are used to bulk out their food and they pretty much go straight through them. I feed two of mine on a raw diet and I don't feed any grains to them at all, I do feed some raw pureed vegies and the carbs I feed include sweet potato and pumpkin - but this is only a small part of their diet. If I feed dried food I go for as minimal grain content as possible - I feed my cat on Artemis grain free and I've used Eagle Pack Holistic as they do alternate sources of protein (like fish) which Cherry had before due to her allergies. They might get a bit of pasta if we have left overs as a treat but it's nothing that makes up their regular diet.

Oh what a sweet name!! I love it! I've used it as a reward too - just on our walks when we get to our local sports field, I'll do a bit of training then I'll release her to scent, then call her back, release her etc. So I try and make it a fun game. She really associates training with food though - any chance to eat... :D She enjoys doing the drive work too, it makes her so enthusiastic!

How's she going huski? I have a dreadful soft spot for Beagles after growing up with a stunning tri............he was a right rat bag but I'd love to turn the clock back and apply what I've learned to him. She's ok. If I had kept going with obedience club we'd probably have progressed to the trialling class by now (we were only one level away), but like I mentioned in another thread, I had problems with her consistency where if she was focused on me she'd be fantastic but her drive to scent was always stronger than what I could offer. She can do everything required to compete in CCD, but I couldn't compete with her and know I could keep her nose off the ground if she caught a scent. I can put food under her nose when she's scenting and she doesn't even notice it :D We've been doing a drive training program for a few months now and she's coming along nicely. I only wish I had started her on it earlier! ETA: I wouldn't train a beagle any other way now. Their level of drive can be surprising (and they are so strong and determined) it's just harnessing it that can be the problem I will one day have a male tri colour, his name will be Burt

Gosh Daisy will be three years old in October and there's no way we'll be ready to trial by then, so she'll be a late, late bloomer

Hmmm, it would depend on the situation I think, if it was the first time they'd done it or if it was a habit, and what I've used with the dog in the past that has been successful to correct them. I might use a NRM, or I might use compulsion (i.e. they refuse to sit, so I push their bum down gently), I might remove the treat, ignore them, I might work on making myself more exciting and of a higher value for the next time etc etc.

Yep, that is Ruby, too! She works her little booty off to the max sometimes if she knows payment is well worth it You can see her try really hard! With Millie, if I show her the good stuff (ie. dinner) she won't do a damn thing for me. All she can think about is the food. I have to train her with mundane treats and have no problem hiding them on her as she just loves to be there with me most of the time. Perhaps I should just be spending all my effort training her You should look at doing some food based drive training... Daisy really enjoys doing it For me, consistency was the problem. If she is focused on me (and the food) she is excellent, 110% focus and works really well. Unfortunately that didn't happen all the time and her urge to scent would take over and I'd have to fight her to get her focus back. I knew there was no way I could trial her like that because if we went somewhere new (or if even if we trialled at our club and a particular scent got her attention!) and she caught a scent all our previous training would go out the window.

Not unlike my dog - if I didn't train with food she wouldn't be interested. However, she has a reasonable amount of drive and wants to work, because I use food to motivate her. She loves training because it involves food

nksyd - you could always try a martingale collar which can be fitted to sit higher up on the neck so it won't slide back down. I find them much more effective than check chains.

Thanks guys ;) Dogdude - I'll be happy just to get Daisy to a level where we can enter a CCD trial, I don't know if we'll ever get to the higher levels ;)

Sorry to ask an OT question, but what does everyone use as a hand signal for stand? I've seen a couple of different ones and I was wondering if there is one that is considered the 'proper hand signal (for obedience competition).

Looking at those pics I would be so tempted to get them clipped :D I know it might not be the right thing to do without asking but then again you know your brother and would have a general idea when it comes to he would be annoyed about - it's not like they are strangers dogs. How uncomfortable must they be with all those matts look at the poor little guy at the bottom of the screen with all the matts on his back Sometimes it's not intentional neglect, some dogs owners just do not know any better. I'm sure they love their dogs and are just a bit ignorant about grooming. ETA: Is there any way you can call your brother and ask if you could take the dogs to the groomer?

Personally I feed vegies. I blend together a mix of carrots, broccoli, pumpkin, apple, maybe some spinach etc and mix it all together with natural yoghurt. I feed this to the dogs several times a week for dinner, usually mixed with some sardines, or egg or offal. I also give the dogs some fruit like apple or a piece of carrot to chew on as a treat although I don't think of it as part of their regular diet.

And I don't see what this has to do with you and what you perceive as a successful tool for your dog, particularly. I'm not asking you to avoid using negative interruptors. I'm asking if you think there's a purpose for a negative interruptor that a positive interruptor can't also achieve. You've more or less answered that, thanks. I was just giving my opinion like you asked at the start of the thread - of course what I know is successful for my dogs is going to impact on whether or not I would use that particular method and if I thought there was a purpose for it. Just as you've given your opinion on why you don't think they work or work well for your dogs In regards to interruptors - it works because it gets their attention. You mentioned using oi - I use it quite often it too. I wouldn't use a voice correction if it wasn't effective or didn't achieve what I wanted it to. If it didn't work or wasn't suitable for the dog, I wouldn't use it. With the example I gave about giving a warning growl - Daisy was just being a general PITA and decided she wanted to push the limits. She knows what the command quiet means but on this particular occasion she chose to ignore it and keep barking. I gave a warning growl noise and she realised I meant it, stopped barking immediately and gave up. She ignored a known command and had no interest in having a cuddle, this was not something she did on a regular basis. And being an often over confident dog who will challenge you, I would hazard a guess that it doesn't affect her like it you perceive it affects Kivi. ETA: I could have just put her in her crate - but she would have kept barking. I guess that would be ok if your neighbours don't mind the noise and you can put up with it until she finally gives up but considering that the growl worked very effectively, and quickly, I wouldn't hesitate to use it again if the situation was appropriate :D ETA2: Corvus, I'm not having a go at you or anything - I'm just giving my genuine opinion. I hope you're not taking my posts as having a narky or negative undertone, because that's not my intention. Or are you provoking me intentionally to see if you're right about my reasoning ability?

But if it's ok for dogs to give each others 'warnings' and it can be a big part of how they learn appropriate behaviour, you'd (or at least I would) could assume that negative markers can be a useful tool when it comes to communicating with our dogs. I don't focus on thinking about it being one way or the other, my attitude is I use what works best for the dog in each situation. What works in one situation may not in another. What works for one dog will not work for another. I've done the growl at Daisy when she's been barking at us when we have food and it worked fantastically as a way to tell her to back off. It wasn't so much the growl itself, it was my tone, and the meaning behind it, she knew it was a warning and she needed to hear it as she can be a very over confident dog and sometimes needs to be told no. If I used 'the growl' or 'ah ah' and my dog wouldn't come when I called them as a result I would think twice about using it again - but my relationship with my dogs is one where a correction here or there is not going to affect their bond with me or their willingness or desire to do what I ask them to do. I guess I don't see why telling the dog no or telling them not what to do has to be perceived as some kind of weakness. I tell my dogs what to do every day, but sometimes it helps to communicate with them so they know when they've got it wrong too. Why would I want to avoid using what has been a useful and successful tool? At least that's how I see it.