The Spotted Devil

Just my experience....I definitely made sure Ziggy had plenty of exercise/stimulation before going to bed but I found it was also important not to put him to bed all wound up - so once he'd had a good play I would sit on the floor with him (some nice cuddle time for both of us) and play with his paws and his mouth etc....gradually he would wind down....I had the 3 yawn rule.....3 puppy yawns and it was off to bed I made the mistake of putting him to bed when he had fallen deeply asleep and he got quite a fright when he woke up on his own...spoiled baby. Plus the other thing that helps is associating bed time with some food. I always hold back a small handful of his puppy biscuits and put them into his puppy kong....I only have to start filling it now and he rushes into his crate for a snooze. Last thing at night (around 10.30pm) I get him up to toilet and then it's back to bed with his puppy kong and a chicken neck. He can't wait!!! Initially I also left a lamp on as the crate is open to allow him to have a drink plus the radio, but phased them out within a few weeks. I'm not really sure if they helped....but he adapted very quickly.

I use the crate when I go out but it's also handy through the day when the cats have had a gut full of his antics and need a break or some special time of their own I never get him up unless he is perfectly quiet....and I make sure I wait a little while when I get home so he doesn't associate me coming in the front door with immediately letting him out. Other times I will get him up when I can hear him awake but behaving. We're getting there although once I use the bathroom in the morning I can't fool him - OH can crash around all morning and Zig never makes a peep :p

I'm new to showing too...but have been lucky enough to find a very good trainer who is very helpful with a mad Dally pup! I use lots of low calming voice control...."steady" etc and we don't always get it right...but we are improving and that's all I can ask! And relax and enjoy yourself...it's not like you're playing for sheep stations after all!

One word of caution do not use the word "Tail" its a dead set giveaway in the show ring.

I'm not sure what you mean by this .

Just curious - and upfront apologies if it is saying something more obvious than what I can see. But do you mind explaining what you mean by "do not use the word "Tail" ??

I'm guessing that it would give away the "trick" to the judge.

If it's just excitement (hey I've got a Dally...I know about excitement :p ) do you think perhaps your girl will grow out of it as she learns to relax in the ring? IMO creating a calm environment in the ring (using voice etc) would be easier than teaching her to hold her tail lower. Just a thought :D

ETA: with regards to tail carriage...my lad is pretty good but if he gets very excited when "finding" a toy on command it really flies up too.

Sorry I don't know anything about heart murmurs in Dachshunds (gorgeous lad!) but my old Burmese cat had cardiomyopathy diagnosed when she was about 8 years old - it nearly killed her then. The vet gave exactly the same conflicting advice....could be anytime or it could be years....some animals just seem to respond to the drugs quite dramatically. We were lucky and Willow kept going to 18! Good luck with your lad!

Thanks for clarifying that...a bit vague on my part.

Erny,

Thanks for the heads-up on that article. Just had a very quick skim of it - it only measures behavioural reactions and not cortisol. An integration of a number of physiological and behavioural measures would be preferable. I think it actually does agree in part with this latest study because the dogs were given an electric pulse when they disobeyed a command such as walking too far ahead or not letting go of the target. So these dogs are similar to Group H.

Has your latest information, been under peer review?

Hi Lablover

I just read the article for myself - not thoroughly as I don't have the time atm. It's in a published journal, so yes it is peer reviewed. There was no significant increase in cortisol (often indicative of stress) for group A - these dogs received an electric pulse the moment they touched the prey item. The other 2 groups showed significant increases in cortisol when compared to group A. Group H received an electric pulse when they did not obey a recall command having previously been trained to recall. Group R received random electric pulses that were unpredictable and out of context.

Schalkea, E. Stichnotha, S. Otta and R. Jones-Baadeb, 1997, 'Clinical signs caused by the use of electric training collars on dogs in everyday life situations', Applied Animal Behaviour Science, Vol 105, No. 5, pp 369-380.

Sorry you're having these problems...a few things I can think of...

* consider videoing what is going on in your absence so you really know how to approach this

* letter drop to all your neighbours, apologise for the disturbance and assure them you are working on a solution

* make sure your younger dog has a good 2 hours of activity before you go to work - sometimes it hurts when you have to get up early but I take my puppy down the beach for a 20 minute free run (better than a walk) at 6am then he comes home, has a rest or plays quietly with his toys while I get ready to leave the house. Then he gets his breakfast.

* have a variety of toys (kongs stuffed with food are great, freeze them using stock or soak biscuits in water to make it more difficult) and rotate them regularly.

* make sure you are doing some form of training - whether it's with an obedience club or just short bursts around the house when you are home - Beagles generally are very food motivated so you can use that to your advantage. My lad is toy motivated (esp. squeaky ones) so we play hide and seek with toys or he has to sit/drop/stand to play with his toy.

* I'm not away for more than a few hours a day (generally) and my lad happily sleeps in his (open) crate in the laundry while I am out. Generally he is so tired with all the brain work (can't over exercise at this tender age in a larger breed) he's delighted to go to bed with his puppy kong full of biscuits out of his ration.

* you could consider a dog walker to visit them in the middle of the day

That's it for now - I'm sure others will have some ideas for you too. Good luck!

Poor Charlie - let us know how he goes. My dad had my ACD's half sister - talk about "chalk and cheese" :D My girl was the sweetest thing and would be minding her own business before being set upon by Dad's dog. It never got any better and I hated going for visits in the end. Good luck Poodle Wrangler - your boy sounds lovely

I agree with the salt water treatment - just keep the wound open so it can heal from the inside out. This works wonders for cat bites too and their claws and teeth cause revolting infections if left to fester. How's your dog in itself ? I hope he's ok.

MsJames

I don't use time-outs at all - just ignore and reward as appropriate. I do, however, have 2 Burmese cats who were highly displeased with the intruding puppy...especially when he delicately picked up Lilly's tail and tried to carry it off to his bed :D Lilly teases the daylights out of Zig and young Bronte can't but help dash across the room in front of him. I deal with it from a number of angles....first establishing a "leave" command with lots of praise as soon as he does, some clicker work to encourage eye contact with me when the cats are in the room, giving everyone some separate time and special attention and, finally, a back up water spray kept for emergencies. Although less than 7 months old, the lad is getting the message - not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but he's improved out of sight. He's just desperate to play with them but they don't appreciate his wet nose in their lovely fur nor his goofy play bows Not sure if any of that helps but good luck!

Sky...that's such an interesting point. I always had one dog and one cat. When they went to Rainbow Bridge :D I purchased a kitten and was fortunate enough to also get her mother from the breeder 12 months later as she was retired from breeding after her second litter - having 2 cats in this situation is indescribably wonderful! I'd love another Dal too, but will definitely wait until Zig is around 2 years old and well on the way to being mildly sensible

ETA: My OH and I having working/study commitments that mean Zig is rarely on his own for more than 2 hours....and is always asleep then anyway!

Well put showdog.

I don't think a puppy, disturbed suddenly in its sleep, necessarily sees itself as higher in the pack than the child - what your puppy did was a reflex response, like when you whip your hand away from a hot iron without even thinking. Give the puppy a safe place to sleep undisturbed by anyone.

This is completely my personal opinion.....and what I would do...

I would have one pup at a time - then you can get to know your puppy and train her appropriately. If you decide to get another puppy for company at a later stage, your whippet can teach her all her good manners....ideally anyway :D Your puppy can still have loads of fun meeting other puppies and adult dogs in the meantime and you can provide her with lots of chew toys and fun things to do at home to keep her out of mischief. I suppose it also depends on how much time you have to spend with your girl. The other thing, that really depends on the individual dog, is that it may be better if there is an age difference between the dogs so that there are no arguments about who is dominant. 2 puppies are eventually going to have to make that decision and it may be difficult if they have similarly "bold" personalities, for example.

Just my thoughts

How old is your puppy? Lameness changing from leg to leg COULD be a symptom of growing pains.

He is 7 months now and this has been going on for about 2 months. First I thought he heart this leg repeatedly jumping down a retaining wall during play. Now I am not so sure anymore. Because he has not visited my sister's place, where it happened, in a while and I have not played any strenous games with him we only did obedience and walks on the lead. I have read up about growing pains, which are usually a symptom of a bone desease, so I am really concerned now.

Don't panic too much - if it is something like growing pains or Pano, they often get through it with rest. Maybe a second vet opinion would be best just to make sure there is no drama with the cruciate ligaments etc. It's hard to get a busy puppy to rest isn't it! I do lots of brain work with my lad - even sitting at a cafe for an hour is enough to tire him out....or searching for toys in the house or some clicker work. Make sure you've got his diet covered off too....whether you are feeding raw or commercial food, most importantly ensure the calcium to phosphorus ratio is correct - too much calcium is as bad as not enough.

Good luck!

Sas, I can see where you're coming from - thanks for clearing that up. The OP seemed to be saying (I could be wrong) that the puppy was sleeping on the owner's bed all night without being taken out for proper toilet breaks - in my mind it would be quite difficult for a young puppy to navigate it's way off the bed to an appropriate toileting area and thus the habit forms of weeing on the bed and in the general area. Then the puppy keeps returning to the same spot because it 'smells right'.

I think the owner will need some serious training if this situation is to improve.

How old is your puppy? Lameness changing from leg to leg COULD be a symptom of growing pains.

First show + bird feathers = hilarious

I dont think she is as regular with the toilet breaks as she says. (After all, when I went into her house to get Coco, she was asleep on her bed with the TV on. No wonder the puppy wees on the bed) Her other dog I groom is an older outside dog, who I have now talked her into having inside of a night as he is older and has a very fine coat. As far as I know she has not had experience with toilet training a dog, so I think I'll have a really good chat to her about it in the next week when I see her again.

Thanks, I thought it was the obvious but just wanted to make sure as I've never had this problem.

We'll just have to agree to disagree, sas :rolleyes:

ETA: Just because humans recognise the whole piece of furniture as our "bed" doesn't mean the puppy does. At this stage, I would think the puppy is using a bit for sleeping and a bit for toileting - just the same as if it was allowed full run of the house without supervision.

I don't deny pups exhibit dominance behaviour at 8 weeks, but from the info provided it sounded to me like the pup needed to be taken outside on a regular basis, trained where to toilet and praised profusely. I don't really think that a puppy toileting inappropriately is a sign of being dominant - inadequate toilet training on the owner's behalf? Definitely. Leadership problems in the future - certainly possible. IMO of course :rolleyes:

I was using cartrophen before it was really common place with my dearly departed ACD. It was pretty expensive back then so my vet (who I worked for) sold me a bottle and the needles and I gave Dolly monthly injections. I have no doubt that it really did help in her twilight years.

Poor puppy though - I hope he's up and about soon!

Dals have their own unique set of dietary issues too....the science is conflicting and yet a number of vets will claim they have all the answers :rolleyes:

ETA: Try getting the average doctor to believe that any form of yellow food colouring (found in noodles and mayonnaise!!!) leave me with pounding, debilitating headaches for days!

Ah - so you would see all the dog food deals going through. It's a tough nut, that's for sure. I too work at a clinic when I'm not at Uni and everyone there plus my vet at another clinic (who I really respect in most things) recommend commercial food. I think, though, for the average person (and you would know there are some very average pet owners) that the commercial diets of any description are better than the rubbish they would feed them at home. You only have to look at the number of overweight animals that come into vet clinics. My vet always seems surprised to not to have to tell me to feed my cats or puppy less! But the vast majority of regulars on this forum put way more effort into their dogs than the average owner so it's not surprising that they want to find the best possible diet.

Cats are true carnivores so they are a bit easier...I feed them probably half raw (fresh chicken, beef, lamb and chicken necks every second night - half premium biscuits (1/8 cup twice per day each)

I'd use a zoom groom too. I have one for my Burmese cats, they have a very short, close lying satiny coat and the zoom groom removes the dead hairs by the handful. It would be fabulous on a short haired dog....make grooming very easy!

Off topic I know...but I am owned by 2 lilac Burmese girls (mother and daughter) - brilliant, brilliant breed!!!! :rolleyes:

Dogs actually have no dietary requirement for carbs. They are simply a cheap and effective energy source when processed correctly (generally heat treated for commercial food). The vets are a bit limited....they get deals for selling so much food so it's no wonder they recommend it. There needs to be some sort of guideline on this....similar to the recent uproar about human doctors. There's not a lot of research in Australia on dog nutrition either - much more research $$$ to be had in livestock nutrition.

ETA: I can understand your vet brushing you off to some extent as there is so much mis-information on the internet - loads of scare-mongering which is completely unsupported by research. Science is a difficult discipline to understand if you haven't studied it. But...I can certainly understand your concerns. I also did a quick search on my Uni's online journal database - not much to be had...but I didn't look all that hard and am too tired tonight!