huski

I bought my first clicker a couple of days ago I've been reading up on them, and my obedience club also uses them. So I thought, well it's worth a try I can't believe how much more responsive my Sibe is when I am using the clicker - unbelievable! I tried teaching him the heel command using treats alone and it didn't work. Now with the clicker as soon as I say "heel" he looks at me and moves to my side - and that was the second day I used it with him! I've never had him this responsive before. It is really helping his focus. Since we got Daisy, we've been having problems with him lunging when strange dogs walk past him (not so much in an aggressive way as a dominant protective way). We saw a trainer who was great and put him on a training programme and the clicker is really helping with this too. I'm even noticing a difference with Daisy, at home not so much on the walk. She is only 5 and a half months old though so I don't expect her to be as immediately responsive as Micha. But I will be taking the clicker to obedience on Monday with her and hopefully we'll be noticing a change in naughty puppy to good puppy Just had to post about it because I'm feeling very proud of my boy and very impressed with the clicker

Thanks KitKat I am googling their store locations now

Peachie can you move to Brisbane? :D I totally understand what you're saying. I do brush my boy each week but it is nice to have the help to get the fur out that you get when you go to a professional groomer. I have no qualms paying whatever they charge for it either. The place we used to go to charged around $70-$80. Just to be especially clear - I do not want someone to groom my dog for me each week. I do that myself. But I don't see a problem in going to a pro groomer who has the equipment to blow out my dog's coat, which helps with the brushing. I don't think it is any different then taking my little dog to get her fur clipped... I could do it myself but it would take time/ money to buy clippers/blow dryer etc. In regards to bathing I always get Mish done at a $10 hydrobath so I don't do that myself either. However I am open to suggests such as the one KitKat suggested. I have just never been able to get as much fur off Micha as a good groomer.

You're completely right Showdog. I just want to clarify, I groom Micha regularly - as in every week. I just find that getting a groomer to do the blow dry definately helps loosening up the coat which makes it easier IMO to get the rest out. I usually take him to get a hydrobath and then I brush his coat out but nothing beats the blow dry. We used to take him to a dog groomer who would blow out his coat and I found this very effective, they did an excellent job and it got rid of a bulk of the hair. However they aren't grooming anymore and the next groomer we went to didn't do a very good job, it was like we paid $60 for them to bath him and that was it. I don't expect them to get every bit of hair out but I guess it is hard to replace the great groomer we had before. HH don't tempt me I'd get to your place and leave with a puppy We could have a big Brisbane bathing day :D Everyone with dirty dogs to HH's place Hesapandabear where do you get the high velocity dryer from? I am thinking it is probably going to be more effective for me to blow out Michy's coat then get someone else to do it.

Thanks KK I really want to get a Furminator. I'm also lazy

Hey everyone I am looking for a groomer in Brisbane who is good at blowing out a Sibes coat. It seems no matter how many hours I brush him for I just can't get the coat out... and I am yet to find a groomer who is good at it. The last place I took him to washed and blow dried him but there was still HEAPS of fur coming off, they hadn't bothered to get it all and still charged me $60 I don't mind paying around that as long as they do a good job. Does anyone know anywhere? Thanks

We feed our dogs on either IAMS or Royal Canin. Neither are available at the supermarket but they are readily available at our local pet supplies shop

I don't take my dogs to dog parks much at all anymore. Our local one had gotten too nasty and bitchy and the control of their dogs was poor if not minimal. I set up puppy play dates with my dogs now instead so I know who they are interacting and socialising with

I've heard that tinned PAL food is great for making dogs bowels move, because it's such awful stuff it makes (this is gross) poo runny. PAL will go straight through a dog.

You could also try giving him a bath to get rid of any flea still on him

Hi beaglenewb Urhhhh sorry bit slow today. Oslo is lovely

That sounds like perfectly normal Beagle behaviour - mine is four months old and has a very short attention span. She gets so bored at puppy school, she needs constant mental stimulation or she loses interest. You still haven't shown us any pics!

Yes but where are the photos???

Firstly, Miss Shel and Beaglenewb, you have Beagle babies and I haven't seen photos anywhere! Please post some so we can share in the baby beagle love? Beaglenewb, I'm sure you've heard this a thousand times but patience is the key (especially with beagle pups). Our beagle Daisy is four months old now, and she goes through full on hyper active moments all throughout the day. We were recommended a pig snout at bed time to settle our pup down, it worked in the beginning but then she started hiding them as soon as we gave her one ;) You could also try teaching him "sit" or little tricks like that, I taught Daisy sit and lie down in the first couple of weeks because we couldn't start puppy preschool for almost a month once we got her. Your little boy sounds just like a typical Beagle ;) Be consistant and hang in there and he should grow up into a great dog.

Ker don't forget that DOL forums have a rescue page, you will be able to find a great rescue dog from there as well as Pet Rescue

I know all this too and I was really shocked when mum told me (I was OS when the classes started) that there were puppies younger than 8 weeks there. One of them came from what sounds like BYB, I don't think it was a registered breeder. Of course in QLD pet shops sell puppies as young as six weeks so some of them could have come from there too. Angelbundy the classes are held at a shop (doesn't sell pets just supplies). The people who work there are excellent, I was really looking forward to puppy preschool there as they are always so knowledgable and helpful. Bellebriar I have already found an obedience club that looks good if mum wants to do more training with Daisy. Heidley I hope the trainer will take on board our suggestions however I don't think she is the kind of person who will accept criticism seriously. However we will be talking to her about it, she is running two classes at the moment so I wonder what the people in the other class are feeling.

If there is no socialisation happening and no beneficial exercises, would you really want to bother to return??? From the description you give it sounds to me as if going there is teaching your puppy all the wrong things rather than the right things. If it were me, and I witnessed what you have described, I wouldn't subject my puppy to that. ETA: And even though the instructor might not give it back to you, I'd be asking for my money back on the lesson/s you don't go to. And let them know why. Sorry I wasn't that clear in my post - there was socialisation at the end (for about five minutes), there were some exercises in between her talking. However the exercises probably only took up fifteen-twenty minutes of the hour and a half. I wish I had said something in hindsight but I think we (my family and I) will be making a written complaint as well as a verbal complaint next week.

Ok well tonight I was finally able to go to this puppy pre school class myself. I stick with my earlier thought that it is awful The puppies had to sit tied to our chairs on a very short lead for the entire class - which went for an hour and a half Yes, they wanted my puppy to "settle" for an HOUR and a half To make the puppies settle we were supposed to feed them liver treats etc for the entire class. My puppy went through THREE pig snouts and huge amounts of liver treats, a huge piece of chewy dried liver (it could have been something other than liver but that's what it looked like) given to Daisy our pup by the trainer herself. The information provided etc was ok but I was not happy with being expected to continuously feed my 16 week old pup dog treats for more than an hour. She was truly getting overfed on these treats :p One couple had a whole lot of ham they were feeding their puppy - I thought ham was bad for dogs? They were also feeding it grapes. By the end of the session my puppy was so over worked and overexcited from being fed so many treats and being tied to the chair that she was literally choking herself on the lead jumping around, pulling and trying to move around :( I could go into more detail but all I'm saying is thank dog there is only one more class left.

Thanks from me too FP.

FP, how long are your walks with your Beagle? Daisy has had all her shots and she is currently doing puppy preschool now. She is getting walked once a day although I'm not home until next week so I'm not 100% how long the walk is. Apparently she is completely full of energy, even after her walk. Obviously she can't do the hour long walk I do with my Sibe so I will have to do two separate walks when I get home next week (walking the dogs is generally my job).

Thanks for the advice guys. I spoke to my mum today as she had just come back from the second puppy preschool class. Apparently the talking has been cut down but the trainer still goes on and on for ages. I also think it is difficult because we have always used verbal corrections on all three of our dogs and even our cat (not that the cat would ever listen ) that it is hard going to a training class that teaches you it is wrong. I think part of the problem is that there is a personality clash with the trainer as well. I don't think she is an easy person to get along with, although I will see when I get back next week and go for myself. I will let you guys all know how it goes :rolleyes:

Hey everyone I am OS for another week and so I can't give first hand experience with this for another couple of weeks but I am really curious as to what you all think about this puppy pre school class. I can post more info on the class tomorrow when my family go for the next session. My mum and sister have just started taking our 3 1/2 month old pup Daisy to puppy pre school. This is a not at an obed club but the people who run it are experience dog trainers. My mum sent me an email saying she was really frustrated with the trainer taking the class (this is after the first lesson). The class runs for just over an hour and is $90 for the five weeks. The first class the trainer spent the hour talking about the training methods she uses etc. She made all the baby puppies sit for the entire hour and got annoyed if the owners couldn't control them and keep them sitting the entire time. Now is it just me or is this unreasonable? We are talking about puppies that are from 7 1/2 weeks plus. Isn't it unfair to expect owners to have full control of such young puppies and also to expect the puppies to be able to sit still for almost an hour? The trainer also explained that she doesn't believe in saying "no" or "uh uh" to the puppies, so this is frustrating as we have always used this technique and it has always worked for us. Is it wrong to use this verbal correction? Daisy our pup does respond to "no" or "uh uh" and so does my Sibe. Now we aren't in puppy preschool so much for the training side (Daisy can already do most of the basic stuff you learn in puppy school) but more for the socialisation aspect. However according to my mum and my sister the puppies didn't have any time to socialise as they had to sit down for almost the whole class. Also according my family the trainer was very patronising and quite rude if the puppies couldn't do what she wanted. Not only this but there was really no actual training of the dogs done - about five minutes was spent on this and the rest of the hour was spent with her talking. From memory the puppy school we took my Sibe to a few years ago was completely different to this. Does this sound right?

It might take him a couple of night to get used to it so if you want him to sleep outside just persevere for a little while

I would assume that your GSP probably won't forget about the guinea pig as he would surely be able to smell it there, even if he can't see it. Can you ask the neighbours to move the guinea pig cage to another part of their yard? You would think they wouldn't find this unreasonable if they cut holes in your/their fence because of their dog. I think the electric fence is a good idea too

I agree with the poster who said that having an mainly outside dog has bad connotations attached to it. My Sibe choses to be outside, he loves it. He sleeps outside (his choice) on our deck, which is a semi-wrap around deck and is completely enclosed (except for where it leads to the backyard). I don't think it is cruel to let him sleep outside. He is extremely spoilt and well loved and I do not like how people assume because he is mainly an outside dog that he is getting the bad end of the stick or that we are being cruel, or not giving him enough attention. Our Beagle pup sleeps inside but her bed is in the lounge room, next to the door that leads onto the deck... how is this that different to where my Sibe sleeps? She is closer to outside than she is to our bed rooms. How is that any less "cruel" than where my Sibe sleeps? She also spends a lot of time outside, her choice. The only one of our dogs that is inside majority of the time is our elderly Tibetan spaniel and she does not get anymore attention than our other two dogs (we spend a lot of time outside and most of our house opens up onto our deck so we are always going in and out). Also ALL our dogs are put outside when we are not home. With my Tibbie she is put on a separated part of our deck so she isn't harassed by our younger dogs. Again I do not see how this is cruel if 1) we are not home anyway and 2) they have access to the backyard but also have access to our deck which provides them a space that is enclosed and separated from the elements and more than adequate shelter. When it is a hot day we have a concrete slab under our deck that we hose down/wet - my sibe LOVES this. If we are home and it is hot enough for us to have the aircon on we let everyone come inside. I think our animals live a great life ETA: I forgot to mention that my Sibe started sleeping outside when he was 12 months old because we moved to a much smaller house and my mum didn't want him inside there. He used to sleep on my bedroom floor every night until this time and I was dead set against having him outside. The first night he howled for a little bit and then that was it. He adjusted very quickly and very well - I gave him the choice to sleep inside one night and he kept going to the door, wanting to be put out. He likes it