Kynan

For the past few weeks we have been working on retrieves and scent discrimination and have been making great progress. I would also like to start tracking soon and will train my boy to drop on the articles. Just wondering if my dog is likely to get confused and start dropping on the dumbbell or scent discrimination articles and retrieve the tracking articles if we train for both obedience and tracking?

How old is your boy? If he is only young then 20 minutes is a long time if you dont build up to it slowly. You could try smaller durations say one or two minutes and then releasing him with a word such as "free" so that he learns that he has to wait until you say he can get up instead of him deciding when to move (same goes for any other command such as sit and drop). You could also try giving him a treat every 10 seconds that he remains on the mat and gradually increasing the time between treats before phasing them out. Having him on lead while teaching stationing will help you control his movements and prevent him from running off. You could also try exercising him first to drain some energy which may help him settle. Hope this helps!

My GSD had the implant at 10 months of age to see if it helped with his dominance problems. It made such a positive difference that I had him surgically desexed last month.

Yes Matthew is great and has a very caring and gentle manner. He gives very sensible and practical advice and does not pressure you to have unnecessary treatments.

Yes Dr Wyburn emailed me late last night to say he didn't receive the xrays until 19th Nov (posted 10th) and he posted back the results on Friday 21st so I should get them today. I wonder why he didn't email me the results? I'm thinking that means bad news is coming No hun, it is not that. With GSDS as part of the agreement with the GSDCA he does not email results back usually. It will be ok Think happy thoughts Yay happy thoughts worked! He passed and got 3:2 for hips and 0:0 for elbows. So happy!

Yes Dr Wyburn emailed me late last night to say he didn't receive the xrays until 19th Nov (posted 10th) and he posted back the results on Friday 21st so I should get them today. I wonder why he didn't email me the results? I'm thinking that means bad news is coming

Thanks! Congratulations on your results! Will phone now and see what is happening.

Does anyone have Dr Wyburn's phone number or email address so I can check with him?

I posted xrays to him on 10th November and included my email address and I haven't heard anything. Now I am getting worried that the x-rays got lost in the post.

Thinking of you and your boy and praying that he gets better soon.

I just phoned the vet to make sure they got in contact with owner. The owner is very grateful and wants to contact me to say thank you so I gave my details and they are going to call me tomorrow.

Someone's poor little Lily cat was hit by a car last night and left dead on the side of the road. I was so upset for the poor owners who must've been worried for Lily wondering why she hadn't come for breakfast. I stopped and picked her up and she had a collar with her name and owner's number. I was so upset that I couldn't bring myself to phone them so I drove her to my caring vet and the vet nurse gently carried her inside and promised to call the owners. RIP Lily and hugs to owner

Yes I highly recommend Steve's Loosh Leash Walking program. Started it on Friday with my 10 month old German Shepherd and the results were instant and amazing. Today we walked past 2 other dogs with no pulling and this is only day 4 of the program! Thanks Steve

Hi muchumbo, I have a 10 month old German Shepherd that has a similar problem and a very high prey drive. On Friday we commenced the Loosh Leash Walking distance learning course from Steve at K9 force and the results were immediate. Today we even walked past other dogs without any pulling. I highly recommend Steves course! Also ask him about the most appropriate collar and lead to use. Check out his fantastic website as it has lots of great training articles. K9 Force

So sorry to hear this Siobhan Run free and be happy little one

Special prayers for Mason and lots of hugs to you Bubbly

Hi GSDhandler, Kynan my GSD had hiccups too several times a day when he first came home at 8 weeks. Can't remember when they stopped but probably had them on and off for about a month or two.

Kynan didn't eat his meals the first few days and then only about half for the first week when I brought him home at 8 weeks. Then he started gobbling up everything in his dish in about 10 seconds. Give your pup a few more days to settle in and see what happens. Put the food down for 15 minutes and if he doesn't touch it pick it up and try again in a few hours. Don't try tempting your dog to eat with even tastier titbits or else you'll end up with a fussy eater. A dog will not let itself starve so will eat what is in the bowl eventually.

Kynan is almost 6 months and had stinky breath while teething. It is much better now that all his baby teeth are out. I put some chopped up fresh parsley in his meals and it made his breath a bit better. Also have been brushing his teeth with beef flavoured toothpaste three times a week which seemed to help too. Mmmmm beef fresh!

Thanks everyone for your replies and advice. I have spoken to the breeder and I am probably worrying unecessarily.

What strengthening exercises can be done to reduce cow hocks in a 4 and half month old German Shepherd puppy?