huski

I'd love to volunteer but we're a bit far away in Brissy

Thanks for your reply Jaybeece. Micha would definately not be doing offlead work! You have to be in advance class to do that anyway The behaviourist we use showed me a few good techniques to use when training Micha around other dogs, but I agree, giving him distance would be the best thing to do. I have been doing work with Micha on a smaller scale, such as when we pass dogs on our daily walk or like I said in the OP at the local hydrobath etc. I also walk past the dog park right along the fence line and get him to do sit/stays etc near the other dogs. He has been doing well at this which is why I feel it may be time to step it up. Glad to hear it helped your boy

At our club they have the yellow ribbon rule - any dog with a yellow ribbon must be given a wide berth. I thought the same thing as you PF but it works quite well, the trainers remind everyone of it at the start of the night and point it out to everyone in the class. We had a dog with a yellow ribbon in our class a couple of nights ago and it was successfully given lots of space. I am emailing the behaviorist right now, I just wanted to know if anyone had any personal experience with this sort of situation.

Hey guys I have been taking Daisy to obedience club for a few months now, we are progressing nicely (everything is a challenge with a beagle though, lol). Micha my husky has had a private lesson with a behaviourist, as he started lunging at some strange dogs that walked past us on our evening walk, after having a dog try and attack us on our walk one day. He is also very dominant with younger dogs. He's never been in a serious fight or injured another dog before but then again I wouldn't give him the opportunity! So far I am quite happy with Micha's progress, he used to go to the dog park everyday for several years but obviously we have stopped doing that when his behaviour worsened, he doesn't want to allow any strange dog approach me. I have a couple of times put him with new dogs, he will ignore them and recall well but if I allowed him to focus on them and get face to face with them he'd snap at them (not all the time, but it is irregular as to which dog he won't like). He loves dogs that he knows, and will play with them happily. I took him to get a hydrobath on Sunday, there were quite a few dogs there he doesn't know, he was fine, he wasn't interested in them at all. He happily stood with me in line in rather close proximity to other dogs. However, if we saw a strange dog on our walk he would probably been different. I am wanting to take him to club with me every now and then, his obedience is great and I am very happy with it, but I would like to get him used to be near strange dogs and I feel he is at a stage where he might be ok with the amount that are at obedience school (numbers are quite small at the moment as it is winter). Does anyone else have experience in taking a dog dominant/aggressive dog to obedience? Did it work for you and your dog, did they improve at all? I don't care if he never wants to play with another new dog again, but I just want him to be able to be near another dog without wanting to protect me or lunge. He has improved greatly from our training program and I feel it may be time to "step it up". Also, if you train two different dogs, how do you do club? Do you alternate which dog you take each week (they would be in different classes but on at the same time)? At the moment I would only take Mish every now and then, maybe once or twice a month. Would this be enough to make a difference? Thanks in advance everyone

I feed the same way as you Norskgra except I add egg every now and then as I always forget to get sardines So my three eat bones and dry food, sometimes they have mince for a change.

This is exactly how I feel Myszka. Most nights mum will walk the dogs with me when she gets home from work, so they go out together. However, on nights like tonight when mum can't come with me, I take Daisy out first and then Micha. I always feel terrible, especially tonight, as when I got home I was just too tired (have been at work all day) to take Micha too, and it was quite late and I didn't want to walk by myself. Tonight I feel like an awful owner I have let Mish inside though to compensate for him missing his walk I always take Daisy first as I feel safer walking in the dark with Micha than I do with my little beagle. Sometimes when we do things like go to a DOL meet or go to the farmers markets, we only take Daisy out. Micha doesn't like strange dogs much, so I won't put him in a situation like the markets where there are lots of poorly behaved dogs around or just over exuberant dogs who would get in Mish's face. Cherry stays at home 99% of the time, she can't walk the big dog walk and hate other dogs. We do other things with her to compensate though. ETA: Oops, to answer the OP question, we always keep new dogs seperated from old dogs. Micha and Daisy were seperated for more than a month when we weren't home to supervise. They could see and smell each other but couldn't interact. Number of reasons for this including Micha plays too roughly to play with Daisy unsupervised when she was so young, he can be dominant with new dogs (however when we got Daisy wasn't as bad, he got attacked after Daisy was bought home) etc

I feed Daisy who is 7 months old twice a day. Cherry also eats twice a day. However Micha being a sibe is designed to go on small amounts of food over long periods of time, he was getting a bit overweight on two meals a day so I have cut it down to one meal in the morning and I also cut down the amount I was feeding him. Sometimes I give him a bone at night. I'm not sure yet if I will cut down Daisy's meals to one a day when she is older.

Probably all the reward munchies it gets from frinding all that contraband Dogfish hehe yes I'm sure! I think my beagle looks at the "working" beagles in total jealously... "you mean they get treats just for SNIFFING?????

Oh - I saw a "working" beagle in customs at the Int airport a little while ago, the handler weighed the beag on the scales in front of me and it was almost 17 kg! It was very tall and leggy... freak beagle! Erin I wish I was as lean and athletic as Daisy

Some beagles can be a bit bigger, Daisy is 6 months old and 13kg so if your scales are out they mightn't be out by much. And with walking, my vet told me when Daisy went in her for 16 week vacc: "With a beagle walk them as far as they will go, just make sure they will be able to walk the same distance home" Daisy has a minimum of 30-40 minutes of solid walking a day and still has plenty of energy to give. They are like energizer bunnies eta: A pic of Daisy from this morning, you can see she doesn't look that big but is 40 odd cm tall and 13 kg so it can be deceptive:

Totally OT but your cat Milo reminds me of my cat Shandi (similar colouring from that pic)

Hi Rhi and Jak How old was Jak when you bought her home? If she was younger than 8 weeks could it be possible she is having a problem learning bite inhibition. Leaving litter mates before 8 weeks pups sometimes miss out on developing this, as it is taught by the mother/litter mates. edited for grammer

When I hear the word obedience I think of going to club and I think of general doggy manners. The next dog I buy I would love to be a breed that excels at obedience, so I can attempt trials etc as I really enjoy doing basic stuff with my current dogs and would love a dog I could take to the next level. However obedience for me means general manners and being good social doggy citizens I have basic "pet" obedience things I teach my dogs, like not jumping up on people, basic commands, TOT etc. What really annoys me is when people who have pet dogs feel that is an excuse for them to not be trained... I think all dogs should at least have good manners. Not teaching your dog basic obedience is lazy IMO.

Good luck talking to the trainer Erin, I would be scared too Glad to hear you have a found a new obed club too

Hi! I have loads of different treats I've been trying, and the pieces are super small...I almost feel bad for giving her such small portions. Her classes have ended today. Loose-lead walking went much better today, I was so happy with her. The trainer is having a graduation for the pups. Im so tempted to get a costume for her Or atleast a hat. Oh a hat or costume would be sooooo cute!! I use high value treats with Daisy my beagle such as small pieces of cheese, kabana or roast chicken. I don't think there is any harm giving her smaller pieces at least she will feel like she is getting something BTW I think you should add some pics of Bailey to the photo forum :laugh:

I did that too. Im currently taking Bailey to clicker training. Its going fine. Loose-lead walking is somewhat of a problem though. Gotta have patience with my beagle She is so excited when we go for walks My main problem actually was the fact that she would get car sick on the way home from class. The combination of treats followed by the ride upset her tummy I think. I had to cut down the number of treats I gave her..which I have to do anyways so its a good thing...but she'd look at me like, "Where's my treat..every other dog got treats.." Hi QueenB! I have found using the clicker to teach my beagle Daisy new things is very productive! She seems to learn faster and responds quicker, she loves the challenge of working out exactly what she will have to do to hear the "click". Have you tried cutting the treats into smaller pieces, or varying what treats you give her? Daisy is very naughty at obedience class, she KNOWS when she isn't going to get a treat out of an exercise

From the sounds of it you're not getting anything out of the class by staying there anyway I totally agree with what Kavik said re: food, anything soft and smelly will help get the puppies noses off the ground and attention onto you I can't see how this trainer expects to teach scent hound puppies obedience without food or toy motivation.

Erin I had a similar issue with my puppy pre school class. It went for over an hour, the trainer was very narrow minded and Daisy absolutely hated it. You know the training club I go to has a club president who trains beagles, and he has given me some great advice. The first week I went it was awful as Daisy was totally unresponsive and was more interested in anything but training! When the club pres came to give me some tips I told him Daisy wasn't that food motivated - he asked to see my treats (they were dry liver treats). He laughed and got some kabana out of him pocket, and got Daisy to heel, sit, look etc perfectly for him! Because beagles are scent hounds, they are very hard to train, because they want to put their nose to the ground all the time. I thought Daisy wasn't food motivated, but it was just becase the food I had didn't have a high enough value. Now I train with roast chicken, cheese, kabana etc she is like a different dog. I would definately try training your guys with food. A large number of people at my club don't, but I know what I need to motivate my dog and that's yummy food If you want to use treats to train your dogs than that is your perogative! If you wanted to use a training collar for walks, the black dog martingale collars are great, they are normal collar material rather than chain so its much more comfortable for the dog. http://www.blackdog.net.au/TrainCollarInfo.html http://www.blackdog.net.au/collars.php

I've put pigs ear in a kong before, it stayed in there for ageeeeeeeees!

Your dogs are just too smart BTW, Tia the BC pup is gorgeous!

Leopuppy have you seen this one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW5mRswhURU...ted&search= where the trainer gets the dog to learn to shut an open door with his nose using the clicker... it's long but what a great result! I clickers

Wow thanks guys, great advice. Leopuppy I completely get what you are saying about giving the dog a "reminder" during the stay, I think I will try do that I just wasn't sure if it was good to repeat myself or not.

Ok, I have a really stupid clicker training question. I have been working on Micha's stays, I was wondering, when should I click him if I want him to stay for, say, 10 seconds. If he gets to five seconds and he is staying, should I click him to let him know he is doing the right thing or should I only click him just before I give him a treat (so when the 10 seconds is up). Hope this makes sense

How fast you get results is amazing. My sibe would never "heel" for a treat alone, now he reacts to the word immediately. I'm so happy I tried the clicker

For me, it was so satisfying just to have Micha look at me, and heel to see if it would click I clicked and rewarded him everytime he looked up at me for direction too, he worked it out pretty quickly. It was like, "Do I get my treat now?" And as soon as he heard the clicker he would come really close to my side and wait for the treat