kiesha09

That is such a beautiful photo. I can't wait to have kids and see them grow to be best friends with my dogs. I just hope my dogs agree :laugh:

I'm with you Ness.... just hands off 'my' little light girl

Well Chip isn't cozy on the couch but my bed instead... that is if you can find him. He's gone all stealth

OMG!!! They are so cute!!! I love the way they run. They do sound rather squeeky though Lucky you live in WA or else you may have some stolen toller puppies on your hands

Mr R asks every morning if there is any coffee, meaning will you make me a coffee. I'ver started telling him not to clicker train me You need to reverse this. Break it down into little steps... first ask him to boil the kettle once he gets that down pat, ask him to boil the kettle, get the coffee out... once he gets that down pat, ask him to boil the kettle, get the coffee out and line up the mugs...

Awww happy tears.... So happy for you and Lochie. I bet he wishes his old horrible owners threw him away years ago so he could have found you much earlier!!

I cry at pretty much anything.. but to be honest I didn't cry at this. Not a tear. Don't get me wrong the ads were well done and I am all for what they're promoting. Well sort of. I'm all for promoting adoption but not what the ad is ultimateley set out to achieve, Which is the purchase of ******** dog food. I know someone who was a sales rep for the company and from what I heard the product testing kennels were horrible. I did some research into it and I just cannot support that brand. Apologies if I brought the tone of the thread down. I bit my tongue for as long as I could

Sounds like his mind needs to be worn out a little. Do you do some training with him during your hour long play session in the morning? I would do some shaping games etc. during this time to tire him out mentally and see how that goes.

I was so avoiding this thread as I didn't know what I'd find and if I really needed the heartache. For some reason I changed my mind and I'm glad I did

My boy has an autoimmune disease that gives him similar symptons to arthritis. In the colder months it seems to get worse and his legs get very stiff particularly in the mornings so I'm looking for a jumper or jacket that is long enough to cover over his rump and warm his thighs at the back (sorry for the bad description). A material that isn't too rigid like polar fleece would be the best. Has anyone seen anything online that would match a similar description? Everything I have seen doesn't cover his rump.

Are you 100% sure she isn't giving any other signals of stress around the other children? Ie. lip licking, yawning, looking away - they can be so incredibly subtle and are often hard to spot.

I washed my guys last week and filmed the after effects for you. Check it out .It's funny to watch for the first 20 minutes... after 2 hours it gets kind of annoying

Not even the guests are safe in my house.... this is my brother who came to visit and look how they treat him - like their personal pillow!!

Sorry to intrude on the WA thread being a non WA-er but OMG Ptolomy I am in with the lighter girl. She is adorable!!! By god they are cute little chubbas. I'm not sure I'd get anything done with them around! Resume normal programing

Sorry to intrude on the WA thread being a non WA-er but OMG Ptolomy I am in with the lighter girl. She is adorable!!! By god they are cute little chubbas. I'm not sure I'd get anything done with them around! Resume normal programing

From the one I know well I'd say a Boston!!! My OH's sister has one which we babysit regularly. He has the most amazing personality and is so so friendly. He loves my dogs and fits right in. Best of all he doesn't seem to shed much hair

Kavik my girl is exactly the same... she likes to possess the item. She plays tug and I think her main motivation is to get the item to lay down and chew on it. She does like to chase a moving or thrown object (like a thrown ball) and will very enthusiastically run off and pick it up. Thinking about it now there are many times when she'll sit down and chew the item once she's got it. But its these times she doesn't even get to the running back to me part. I ran out of time to test out some of the suggestions tonight but will work through some of them in the next few days and report back with our progress.

Ahh Ness you are a good problem solver! Thats my problem I am not very creative with my training. I like the idea of the dowel between the legs. She wouldn't have any problems with that at all. I have tried throwing a ball and rewarding her when she brings it back but she ALWAYS drops it half way. I even tried shaping her to bring it closer to me by only rewarding her when she brought it a bit closer than the last time but I still never get past 1/2 way. Vickie I'll try running away from her as well. She may suprise me but I suspect she will drop the ball while she runs after me.

Mmmm that could work Ness... it's going back even a step further to having the item in your hands as well as her mouth. Hadn't thought of that. Would you just use a market word instead of a clicker in this case?

A year or so ago I started teaching my dogs to retrieve with the Shirley Chong method. My boy got it no worries and will now happily retrieve. My girl however is a whole other ball game!! I have been stuck in the same spot for months. When I place the tug toy (I want to train a number of different items but starting with a rope tug toy) on the ground she will pick it up and then drop it straight away. I click as soon as she picks it up. When I try delaying the click (even by a second) to get a longer duration of having the toy in her mouth rather than holding it longer she starts to throw the toy. I don't know what to try next - any suggestions? I'm not fussed about training a formal obedience retrieve, I just want her to retrieve different items. She loves chasing after a ball and will pick it up but then drop it when she's about half way back. I just want her to bring me back the ball

Agreed don't beat yourself up on not seperating them enough... I didn't either and have the same problem and my girl will scream blue murder if I take my boy out without her. We live and learn and won't make the same mistake next time. When I do training with my boy it's always in another room with the door shut so she can't see us. Well that was until she learned to open the door

Can anyone tell me if it exists here in SA yet? Or if there are any clubs training it? I'd like to give it a go but as I have no idea whats involved or where to start I would need some pointers so thought I club could be a good start.

My boy started doing this a while back and it turned out he had a health issue which meant it hurt him to go in and out the doggy door. So he figured he'd just do it inside instead. I had to retrain him to 'ask' to go out the back door instead. I would firstly get a vet check for health issues. If all is ok then I would go right back to basics. Treat him like a puppy and take him out regularly. Every time he goes in the right spot (which is outside) provide him with a treat and praise the hell out of him. I think just like other behaviours get sloppy when we don't reward them every once in a while, toilet training can do this as well.

THanks everyone for your great replies. I really like the look of the Kong Cloud and i think I'll purchase one of those for future use. I think he would work out how to get around the softer style cone. Having said that I did find a temporary solution :D At the moment I'm treating his hot spot with listerine and he hates the taste of it so hasn't touched it at all ever since I put it on :laugh:

My boy has a hot spot which he won't leave alone so I need to put the elizabethan collar on him. But I hate it because it looks so uncomfortable. On the weekend I was in pet stock and saw these comfy looking material ones. Has anyone used these and do they work?