Mohican

Did you even read the responses related to this before posting? Any comments without reading is lazy and irresponsible. As if I'd listen to any advice from someone that hasn't taken the time to research

With the lead pulling, we started using the stop/start method when Moh was 8 wks (got in early). We ignored the biting on the lead and quickly started walking with him in the back and front yard to the paving, not on driveway. As soon as he got too ahead and pulled, I stopped. His curiosity at why we weren't moving meant he turned his head to look at me, which caused slack in the leash so I marked that look and slack leash with a 'yes' or 'good boy' (or a click if you're using that, and continued walking whilst saying 'ok' which is his release word to move freely. His aim was to keep walking so he quickly got the idea if there was a pull, he stopped and looked and I walked forward. He rarely pulls now, but we've been lucky to train him at home away from puppy pre-school so he hasn't got excited to jump up around other dogs yet. So we'll start again from scratch in each new environment. We've had to use timeout away from the pack to stop biting us and jumping up whilst using NILIF to reinforce the behaviour we want inside. We've stopped that a little now as we're doing pup training with Steve at K9 Force (Steve) training method of socialisation and neutralisation as we have a high prey and pack drive dog. Have you heard of it? The basis of this method neutralises the pup a little to new people and dogs by setting up a situation where they ignore him when he jumps up. Then when he sits and calms and looks to you, you reward him and satisfy that drive (is it pack drive he goes into when greeting people and dogs?). There is more info on his site or there's a thread here that's tagged I think. You can adjust the level of neutralisation you want for your pup. ETA: Sorry, it's tagged in the puppy forum here: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=150837

Hi PR (ETA) and Rabanne, I can understand your concern but you can rest assured there is no way I'd let my pup dehyrdrate. I've already said he's being monitored by myself and the vet. It doesn't mean except summer. Obviously if it were too hot he'd have water and scheduled toilet breaks. That's common sense and I'm not a masochist - I love my pup and would never hurt him and we're also doing pup training with K9Force for a well-adjusted pup. Why someone would even think I would baffles me. It's also common sense to know that very soon his bladder will be big enough to hold more water, and as he's growing he's learning to hold on more and has more control of his bowels. But I don't know about the digging in the water bowl, lol. I read you can put a heavy object in the middle to stop it so will try that. Since he's crate/kennel training, he'll be on scheduled toilets again at night but I'm pretty sure he'll hold on and rather sleep. I know about Kongsicles, they're great. Moh gets natural yogurt ones too and will have a puppy pool in summer he'll be monitored in. Dogon, we've done the car training in the back on the first day we got Moh, and since weaned him off having someone in the back whilst we built up trust with him. He seemed reassured we were there, then quite happy on his own with a chew toy. With the loud noises, we adjusted our reassurance/trust factor depending on how he reacted. Our pup was great, didn't react much to loud noises, so when he looked back to us and didn't seem fearful at all we praised him heaps, saying it was a silly sound no big deal. When he was calm and behaving how we wanted in the car we treated him a little tiny bits of food the breeder had for us as she had delayed his meal to prevent car sickness. If he was a bit fearful, which was only over a big bump in the road once, we just checked his reaction and waited, and made out it was no big deal, just a usual bump. As you probably know tone and body language speak volumes. We're still doing loud noises etc - it's harder for us to 'socialise' the prey drive items like the broom, rake and vacuum!

That's what I'm taking heaps of photos - so I don't forget all of his 'moments', and mine, lol. I want to get another husky pup later so can't forget. mntgood and SD - I can't believe how long you both waited you must be saints or just crazy danois - if you're confused let me explain. I simply don't want to spoil this 'how do i prepare, can't wait to get my pup' gorgeous excitement with us debating over whether or not water is ok or not ok overnight. It's a gorgeous time and I didn't feel your first comment and tone was conducive to discussion - it was a one line statement totally contrary to mine as though there was no further discussion 'A dog should ALWAYS have water'. And after I explained and tried leaving it there saying it's working for us, you still wanted to discuss, which I felt was going to be more of a debate and I simply didn't want to give you anything else to go on about me. If someone really wanted to know about the water overnight thing they can research it like I have done for many other topics, and I gave them a book to start with, or if you want to explore for them and yourself you can start a new topic. Just from my own researches I can see how topics get spoiled with people not being able to put in there opinion and explanation if they don't agree and leave it for others to make up their mind and find out more. I've found it quite shocking some of the threads on here, but what made up for it was the really great ones that people did discuss without saying there was only one way, their way. You didn't even offer an explanation of why you thought 'a dog should ALWAYS have water' until I replied. And I also knew there are lots of other things that added to my decision that could take ages to explain but I wanted to keep it more on topic. Like Bigben commented, her pup doesn't want to drink, but wants to sleep. I feel it's important my pup gets quality sleep at night without a lot of interruptions he sometimes gets during the day, and if you knew my pup you'd know water is also the BEST thing to put his paws in and 'dig' like there's no tomorrow. Not much drinking would be going on at night anyway. Like I said, my pup's seen the vet, he's not dehydrated, he's healthy, a huge 10 kgs at 10 weeks and it's working for us fine. Apologies to OH and everyone for getting a bit off-topic. Still excited for you on getting your pup! I was counting down the days on facebook and had a lot of my friends saying '7 days to go till what?' Edited for spelling.

Danois, I don't care whether you agree or not Sorry dogon, no tips on the waiting here either, i was HOPELESS at waiting. It was agonising. We did visit every weekend which helped, and it does make the day extra special when you finally pick him/her up. We were glad to take photos too because he grew so much in 3 weeks. I hope your wait isn't as bad as mine.

A dog should always have access to fresh water. I, and others in this forum who suggested it to me and 'The Puppy Whisperer' book (who said to prepare the pup for it's first night by removing all food and water after 8pm) disagree. This is working for us and he's not dying from thirst in the morning. At 10 weeks he now sleeps through the night after going to bed at 9pm then does pees n poos at 6.15am when he wakes. Throughout the day he has access to fresh, filtered water. The vet said he is doing great, weighs 10 kilos and will be a big boy. He'll get another check at 12 wks with his vaccs.

Yes, I agree you can play tug with your rules TerraNik - pups quickly learn how to get what they want by following the rules! I've found Mohican way too smart for his own good lol. And I def agree with you LM that you can teach them to leave with tug too. I would rather teach them whilst they're young because chances are one day they may learn how great it is to pull things. And I found with Mohican that he tugs on my trousers much less when I give him immediate time-outs - but it has to be consistent for him to realise. I knew consistency was important as in, EVERY TIME, but it wasn't until my OH came back from his parents place to say that Mohican wouldn't come inside when his gran opened the door until he went over and gave him the 'okay' command and hand signal! We've been making him sit to enter and exit doors since we brought him home. Quite unbelievable at first, but just shows that if you do it every time it sinks in after a couple of weeks. I was very proud he behaved so well on a visit

Hi guys, we're doing Steve's (K9 Force) distance package 'Raising your pup the right way' with some drive exercises - great how he customises each program for your circumstances Can't wait to get started. heaps for your help and huski, for the referral.

This all makes sense Steve, actually all of your training does for what we're looking for. My OH and are looking forward to 'raising our Puppy the right way' with your distance package. A lot of your fans have commented how they wished they had their dogs as pups again or had a new pup to start with your training - so we're glad we found you when Mohican is at 9 1/2 wks. Looking forward to getting started

Excellent, thanks huski. I've emailed Steve and spoken to my OH and will let you know how we go

I want Mohican to respond to both my OH and I, for instance, when we ask him to not chase the cat or to not chase dogs when walking, as obviously my OH will sometimes be home alone and walking him alone too. I'd hate to think my cat would only be safe with me around, or is that a silly assumption? I'll take huski's advice and contact Steve at K9Force as it seems many queries are unique for your situation.

Yes, I better work on the 'give' command. We're already using 'ok' in TOT as the 'you have permission to eat your food' command and we've been using it in and out of doors, making him sit first then 'ok' to enter, so I'd say he will come to know it's a permission granted command. I'll work on that this arvo.

Huski, hmmm, I have noticed when he gets excited, this is what he's doing - he's looking to me to play and tug. He's so good otherwise, offering up sits in return for food rewards without even showing the food. And offering a sit when i grab his squeak toy. He only gets toys after sitting first. So how will drive training work with my OH as I want us both to be alpha (I'm happy to be the bitch and OH the alpha male) so do I get OH to do this training with him too? Thanks for the info on K9 distance courses - awesome! will check that out too. Sam&Saki, I'm starting to understand mixed views on all things dogs will occur. I'd def go with what works for us and Moh. I feel it also depends on the breed and temperament. We start puppy preschool tomorrow after being undecided due to our breeder saying parvo has come up in a few vets in Perth recently. The Morley vet has sterilised rooms for puppy training in the cat section and only puppies with first vacs can go so I'm hoping he will be ok. I'll be prepared for mixed views there (!) Just hope Moh isn't a bully. LM, hard corrections don't sit with me so won't be looking further into Leerburg but will do so with K9 as we're already doing his TOT and my OH likes that. I'm also a 'only what's done with love will last' and there's a fine line with tough love, but that's not to say Leerburg's training doesn't and hasn't worked for others or you.

Thanks huski - I saw some of the articles on prey drive but got a bit confused. Will have a look. It's great to know I can use it as a positive. It might help me socialise him to the broom, rake, mop and vacuum I can't do any housework without him being supervised outside when OH gets home! Thanks LM - I had a giggle at your comment and very relieved

Hi everyone, I have just spent an intense first week with our new puppy, Mohican. He's 9 weeks tomorrow, absolutely gorgeous and well-settled in now, car-trained with a halter, will go into his crate/kennel but not trained yet to lock him in it (15mins max and slowly increasing), lead-walking well, tethering well close to us, doing well on NILIF for a pup, and getting better at TOT BUT, I've just noticed he's getting more excited around me, not my OH. We figured it was cause I play with him more during the day, but I just read on the Leerburg.com website that they don't recommend tug-toys for puppies. Mohican LOVES his tug toy and I've taught him to pull Have I made a bad mistake? He's tugging on EVERYTHING with me, nipping more on my hands and does it more when I yelp or turn away so I've gone back to distraction with his chew toy and teaching him drop by offering an alternative treat than my hand, trousers or socks! But it doesn't seem to be working. I have heaps of chew toys, but he loves his balls and prey toys best. Maybe tug-toys are great for dogs that aren't so prey driven, but I think I may have taught my boy to tug at anything when he's around me by accident? Any thoughts? I guess it's only been a week and undoing it now isn't as bad as 6 months down the track.

Thanks Odin-Genie. I forgot to add his name is Mohican - I named myself after him He's gorgeous, but getting more jumpy, nippy and excited towards me since playing with him every day. And I've just read on the Leerburg website they don't recommend playing tug with puppies It's his favourite toy. I really hope there isn't a link and I haven't made a bad mistake for a high prey-drive breed. Sorry for the off-topic, but if it also helps dogon then good. I'll post another topic incase it helps others too. I did a search but only found where to buy tug-toys.

Aw thanks TerraNik. You guys at this forum have really helped me on the steep learning curve

I've just come up for air from getting our puppy last Tuesday. I thought I was prepared with a doggy pen, but when we turned around he came running back to us so proud - he could fit through the bars Being a sibe, he looks bigger with all that fur than he really is so we've been tethering him instead and will pen train when he's bigger. "The Puppy Whisperer" has been my Bible Here's what we've been doing: We've car trained with a harness on the way home from picking him up. He had no problems with a 30 min drive as the breeder held off breakfast and my OH fed him small bits in the backseat. One of us is always in the back with him, petting when loud noises or harleys go past to reassure him until he's more trusting. The car is good for socialisation noises and sights too. We also got a crate, but a pop-up canvas kennel (by Petmate) so when we go camping and sledding in the winter he has his own little tent He loves it - after only a week of feeding him only his lunchtime meaty bone in his crate he now sleeps in it voluntarily and it's his little safe area. When he tries to take his bones it out of the crate, I point back to it saying 'in your kennel' and he does a little circle then goes back in - very cute. I'm with everyone else on the den being a haven for dogs. He still likes our low table and under our bed to rest and sleep. The first night we didn't want him sleeping in the bed, but to bond we camped out on the floor in my OHs swag It was great and he snuggled at our feet, didn't cry at all. He went to toilet every 3 hours on the dot. Now he only goes once a night at 1-2am, we always hear him as his tether leads clunks on the metal of his tag. We feed him 7pm at night and take away all food, water and treats after 8pm - the routine and regular meals helps regulate his bowels. This morning was the first time we woke to see him sleeping in his crate - laying on his back paws up and bare bellied - v.cute. It's been a week of constant supervision and training though, by 6.30pm I'm brain dead! I took 2 weeks off work to settle him in and this week I'm upping his alone time. I work 2 days a week and might be going fulltime but will be able to take him to work. We've been doing NILIF training (nothing in life is free), TOT (Triangle of Temptation - highly recommend K9s methods and website on the training forum) and toilet training him for outside from Day 1 and it's all starting to work. He's still a puppy and explores and jumps up, but we ignore the bad behaviour and do time out on a short tether when he is full of beans, usually in the morning for a couple of hours. We've realised that because I'm the one that plays with him the most (he loves tug-of-war toys) he seems to jump up and get my attention more, but we're sure with repetitive tug only with the toys and stopping play when he jumps at me will sink in eventually Because of the tethering he's okay with his lead, and even lead training is working using the stop / start method (when he pulls I stop, he turns to look at why he can't move, then I say 'yes, good boy' and move forward - he quickly learnt that he can only go forward to explore when he stops pulling). He's a pretty good puppy, especially for a sibe! Now the cat is another matter might have to call in home training for that one. I so want both of them to be safe around each other. I hope some of that helps.