Luke W

Just after I posted she stopped it probably lasted all of a week. She would only cough when she was excited or running and it would just be once or twice! Reason I posted was that it didn't sound like kennel cough to me, it was softer, not as harsh a sound. We didn't end up going to the vet as it stopped really quickly so I think maybe it was just a cold of some kind?? I think they can just pick up colds/coughs that aren't necessarily kennel cough? She was her usual feral self the whole time! Good luck at the vets Thanks for the response Aussie3, good to hear your dog cleared up. I took him to the vet this morning...vet said "kennel cough" - which is just a generic term for "dog cough". It can be a bacterial or viral infection - essentially, it's a doggy cold. She put him on antibiotics and gave him a cortisone injection to reduce the mild throat imflamation. Checking back in a week.

Hi Aussie3 What happened with this one? My dog has this strange cough/gag in the morning? I'm off to the vet now - but found this while searching DOL.

I don't know too much about agility yet - but that looked like a great run - some very good discrimination. PS - "precues" ?

Be careful with bell/bark training. You can end up with a dog that will bark or ring just to go outside, whether it needs to toilet or not. You could also end up with a dog that barks or rings because it's fun.

Overnight: Set your alarm for 01.55am and take her out. Tell her to go to the toilet. Problem solved. During the day: Watch her all the time - if you can't watch her 100%, put her in her pen. You can be a little less vigilant and let her wander around the house for 1 hour after she's been to the toilet and done 1s and 2s. It's not likely she's going to wee or poo after she's already been. Take her outside and command her to go to the toilet every 2-3 hours. Be patient. At 6-7 months she should be desperately trying to avoid toileting inside. As long as you take her out regularly, you'll be fine. We hope. I wouldn't teach her to bark to be let out. I would keep taking her out on schedule (every 2-3 hours) and giving her the command. Eventually, her desire to avoid toileting inside will be stronger than her inability to control her bladder and bowel. She needs to learn control. Teaching to bark to be let out can raise it's own set of problems. Better to teach her that she goes to the toilet when YOU want her to. BTW - 4 1/2 months is still very young. Expect some accidents. Neither you nor your pup are perfect.

That's great!

Are these the "Obedience Without Conflict" series Obedience without conflict - Clear Communication Obedience without conflict - The Game ?? Could you tell me if there is an Australian supplier for these please? I bought mine from the US: http://www.caninetrainingsystems.com/ - shipping was only 5.25 US.

I think it was in The Other End Of the Leash where the author talked about the almost universality of the sounds animal trainers tended to use. It didn't matter what language, what country, what animals... To slow down or calm or for static instructions...long, deep, slow commands...."staaaaayyyy", "steadyyyyy", "whoaaaaa" To speed up an animal, higher pitched, shorter, sharp sounds. Things like "bip, bip", "Chk, chk", repetitive sounds. It's an instinctive thing we use with animals and it seems to work.... oh heck - let me look it up... Yes, The Other End of the Leash - Patricia B MCConnell. She talks extensively about patterns of sounds and the 5 years she spent researching this area. "An analysis of 104 animal handlers and sixteen different languages found a universal use of short, rapidly repeated notes to speed animals up and single, continuous notes to slow or stop them" and a whole lot more fascinating info besides. I could quote from this section for hours.

"...using natural fibre leads and collars so the energy can flow. " To be frank, I smell a crank.

I suggest you ring around - there's a huge variance. I've seen rates from $50/hour to $100+ per hour.

Incredible. Question... For left--about turns, I've been taught the dog should go around and behind the handler. Is this simply another method? It looks very impressive.

Yes! OK - going to watch them today...Been meaning to for a while. They've been sitting on my shelf for a couple of months.

Are these the "Obedience Without Conflict" series Obedience without conflict - Clear Communication Obedience without conflict - The Game ??

WOW! Something to aim for. The 'send away' was amazing. I thought his heeling lacked a little bit of rythym and wasn't quite side on enough. It looked a little cumbersome with the dogs head always bumping into the handlers leg. But I don't know much.

a schutzhund BC !!

I'm going to try to do some more glamour boudoir shots this week.

So much to learn, so much to do, so many DVDs to watch. OK - tomorrow I am going to watch Balabanov and read another chapter in Control Unleashed.

I need to get my act together. I make so many mistakes. I tend to separate serious training and play. My bad. Play is tug or fetch - this is where I'm trying to build a desire for tug or fetch. It's mainly play, with a small amount of commands thrown in to practice on/off. I'll use tug as an example... I say..."wanna PLAY?"..."PLAY?"..."PLAY??" and start tug, revving him up as much as I can...every so often (10sec, 30sec, 60sec, variable), I'll say "Let go", which he does, then I'll say "sit", "down", "on your mat" which he'll do eagferly. Then back into tug. But this really is mainly PLAY, not serious training. For serious training (sits, stays, downs, stands, spins, going round poles, heel work etc)...basically practice for my obedience levels at school, I use all food. And I don't go into a variable reinforcement quick enough. And I reinforce too much for known exercises. I'm not very good at using judicious use of rewards to shape better behaviour. I don't have a 'lets work' command. I do have 2 release cues..."Free" - current exercise over (but I'm not consistant with this), and another cue..."Off ya go, all done, finish" (yes it's a long cue )...this means training is over and you can piss off.

No expert mind you... Is it possible to restrict access when not supervised? Maybe buy a few of those wire doggy pens to fence off an area where there's nothing bad to chew? Give the dogs acceptable chew toys and reward them for chewing on them?

I hate a lot of you I need to do some more focus work. Any recommendations for books, videos, exercises? If there's a chicken frame defrosting in the microwave - his focus is excellent If I've really worked up his prey drive with tug - his focus is excellent How do you get that sort of focus ALL the time?

hehe - I tried a couple of times. Notes: 1. Changed too many variables: - it's dark - never trained at night before - we weren't in 'training mode' - didn't warm up, didn't have my treat bag on... 2. I am still working on the difference between 'wait' and 'stay' - so his 'wait' isn't as strong as his 'stay'. Attempt 1 Just outside the front door, no warm up, never perfromed a stay/wait in that location before Broke wait when I got about 12 paces away and ran toward me. Attempt 2 Same location Shortened distance to 10 paces Recalled to about 10 o'clock, sat. Attempt 3 On lawn - usually training location. But it's still quite dark. Minimal garden lighting. Broke wait at 12 paces as above. Attempt 4 Same location Used down instead of sit. Recalled to a rough heel position (about 1 foot away on my left), sat. An interesting exercise and some lessons learned!!!! PS - He's probably 6 months away from CCD.

I'll try this tomorrow. I can almost guarantee what my dog will do. He'll come and sit halfway between 'front' position and 'heel' position. My dog is 8mo and is ready to graduate to 'level 3'. His recall is good but his 'front' isn't straight enough. Too much returning to heel after recall I think It's something I need to work on.

I'm going through a heavy post-processing phase: I'm not even sure I like this one.

Some new Barkly shots:

They look like variations on the "Dragan" effect. A technique popularized by Andrez Dragan. http://www.google.com/search?q=Andrzej+Dragan