huski

Hey SK - my beagle is one of those dogs who loves everyone and everything. What I find beneficial (and you a probably already doing this) is reinforcing the 'look' command. I worked on it at home first so she knew the command well. Out on walks when I want her attention, I give the look command and as soon as she looks at me I mark it was a 'yes' and give her a treat. You will probably learn the automatic sit at obedience and I use this on walks too, I reinforce that every time I stop Daisy must stop (even if we are not doing proper heel work) and that she must also look at me as soon as she sits... now I have a dog that as soon as I stop walking, automatically sits and looks up at me. I know it sounds really basic but I found it helpful to keep her focus on me

Definitely give Steve a call, but it will definitely be worth the drive :rolleyes:

TM, you could contact Steve from K9 Force and book a session with him :rolleyes: I am sure he will be able to help as he has helped many others on the forum. http://www.k9force.net/

Me too. I think it is important to talk about diets and what we feed. I think it is very important to talk to owners (in general) about what type of ingredients make up dried food, I know my dogs were much better off once I understood the difference in quality between various dried foods. I now feed a BARF diet, but that is only because that is what my dogs (except for Cherry) do best on. The thread on affordable dried food just proves that price is not always an indicator on quality, but having a general idea of what ingredients are good for your dog will help you make a more educated decision when it comes to buying food.

I never recommend BB or any franchises for that matter because it entirely relies on the trainer you get. I've heard a couple of people who have been happy with BB but overall they sound pretty dodgy, I have heard way too many horror stories. Anyone can become a trainer with them if they complete their 6 week course and buy into the franchise. There are so many better trainers out there! You must feel great making progress! I also find the changing direction technique useful, as soon as the dog pulled on the leash I'd change direction and treat them for being next to me. Micha picked up on this really quickly (I used the martingale too). I've never tried black pudding roll but it sounds like something that I should give a go!!

Maybe getting his focus in class is a bit too much of a high distraction environment at the moment? I know when working on my dogs DA issues, I started in low distraction environments and worked on getting his focus excellent there before moving slowly towards more distractions. It was months before I took him to an obedience class, and by then his focus was much better and he could be a couple of metres from other dogs without reacting.

What a lovely tribute Jed. Run free Poppy.

Does he like playing with toys etc? Maybe you could get your OH or son to play tug with him so he has a proper 'outlet' for his energy when he has zoomies?

:rolleyes: well we are apparently poisoning our dogs by feeding them kibble so I guess it cant do anymore harm No, it's not just poisoning them, it's being lazy!

Whereabouts are you located SK? Maybe someone can recommend a good trainer for you!

What a ridiculous thing to say. A BARF diet is not appropriate for every dog out there. I have a dog here who is intolerant to red meat, she has a combination of raw and Royal Canin. And she does very well on it - BARF was not for her. Snr, I fed my dogs on dried food for years and they did well on it - yes they were healthy They have always had some raw meat and bones incorporated into their diet. The two that are on BARF now are loving it, and it agrees with them. Some vets don't agree with feeding BARF but if your dog is doing well on it - by all means feed it and don't feel like you have to feed dried. But a BARF diet is not the be all and end all when it comes to feeding

I got that at obedience too. I politely declined and the instructor asked if I was sure I kept to the martingale (Daisy was about 6 months old and it was the blackdog one). It didn't do much on its own but I like them for safety, I just get in the habit of using them because I have to with Micha, who can slip any flat collar.

Hmmm... how about that VIP puppy roll? I think I'll try the chicken at our next class too. I prefer the human quality chicken/luncheon rolls (you get them near where all the kabana and stuff is in Coles) just because its a bit less gross for me to touch than actual dog food They are also good because they aren't expensive and come in smaller sizes than the dog rolls, so you don't have to worry about getting through a whole big roll of dog food or freezing some.

That is what I use I get some chicken breast or chicken thigh and boil it. I chop it up, its nice and soft and the dogs love it The first time I ever went to obedience with Daisy I made the mistake of bringing dried liver. She couldn't have given a crap about it, now I make sure if I am going to train with food that it is something very high value that I only bring out at training time. She was a different puppy the next week when I bought "special" treats. ETA: Kabana is also good, as are those gross luncheon rolls you can get from the supermarket.

Steve is obviously the best person to talk to about it This is a good thread to have a read of: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...c=43795&hl= as is this article on Steve's website: http://www.k9force.net/index.html?row2col2=tid.html Drive is a subconscious reaction to a stimuli. Primary drives include prey drive, food drive and pack drive. Different dogs will work best in different drives - I have a dog here that has a great food drive, and a dog here I am attempting to train (LOL) in prey drive, so we use a toy as a prey item.

Is he very food or toy driven? I train Daisy in a martingale but by far the easiest way to teach her to heel was to use a very high value treat. ETA: And I wouldn't worry about it too much - he is only young and he's not going to learn heel or loose leash walking straight away.

IMO the instructor should have focused less on the type of tool that the OP "should" use and more on actually teaching the dog how to walk on a loose leash or how to heel. Daisy picked up heel straight away, it was very easy to lure her and get her attention with a treat. Loose leash walking took a bit longer because there are so many distractions out there for a scent hound, but it was still more about the technique (i.e. how I taught it to her) than it was about the tool I used.

I personally don't like haltis. I have used one in the past and Micha hated it. The thing I find most frustrating about haltis is that if I am going to use an aversive tool, I want to be able to control when and if I give the dog a correction and I find that difficult to do with a halti... my dog was never comfortable with it on so it was a constant aversion for him, even when he wasn't pulling. There are a lot of sensitive nerves in the dog's face and the halti would constantly ride up into Micha's eyes. I noticed a huge difference when I put a martingale on him, it was like he didn't even know it was there - it was causing him no irritation at all. I would also be hesitant to use a halti on a puppy, I think they can cause injury if a dog moves or lunges quickly and I would be way too paranoid about it to use one! I think the more important thing is how you are using the tool in conjunction with a training program. I would never use a tool I wasn't comfortable with - I think what you are working on at the moment (getting his focus in low distraction environments) is a good idea. The tool you use is only a small part of how you teach the dog

It looks like Micha is sniggering. He better watch out, sniggering at Steve like that :) Lol, I was a few months slow in reply to the above ;) I am just kidding I knew you were kidding Spotters. You're a doofus :p

What did I do?

Hey Sparky I got my pics from Jane today :D I was very excited as there are some great ones in there! Micha knows he has to sit straight for Steve! :p Mish looks like a dork in this one!

Just to clarify, I have no issue with corrections or punishment, if used in the right context and most importantly with the right timing. But I definitely don't see any reason to confront an aggressive dog, or use force to get a dog to respect or obey me.

He mentions doing them in his book ETA: What you described with the bulldog, and rolling it onto its side, is basically an alpha roll.

Thanks Kavik... I think it is a much more productive method than an alpha roll, that's for sure!

Asking out of curiosity in case I ever experience the same thing with a future dog (Beagle or not) - how did you overcome this? I wouldn't know how to deal with something like that It wasn't too difficult once I approached it from a different angle. Instead of confronting her, I taught her the 'off' command and I made obeying my command and getting off the lounge a pleasant experience. Instead of trying to force her to obey I made her want to obey So I guess instead of setting her up to fail I made the situation one where I knew she would be much more likely to succeed. I am lucky because she is very food motivated so it was easy to make getting off the lounge a high value experience. I also bought a crate so that I could offer her an alternative, so if she got on the lounge I could tell her the off command and then command her to get 'in the crate'. She loved the crate instantly, I think she liked having her own space. I did have a behaviourist that helped me out enormously too, now I look back and think how differently I would have done things from the start! ETA: Now she is older she is allowed on the lounge sometimes, but she gets off when I command her to and I can also pick her up and move her with no issues