koalathebear

It's a bit bizarre isn't it? Whenever Elbie gets runny poo, my husband and I feed him rice, accompany him outside for his toileting and then report back to each other on colour and consistency How did our lives come to this? All the best with Ruby ... hopefully the blanket emerges soon. My friend's shiba inu swallowed a squeaker from a toy and freaked out and was on Poo Watch for several days. Weirdly enough it went through her dog's system faster than expected so she had go wading through several days worth of excreta to find it

Hi Max #1: Thanks heaps for your kind comments Elbie has JUST turned six months old so is getting big. Max on the other hand is wee and is absolutely darling ... 3 months is still a wee little baby - he must be so round and cuddly still. Have you got audio/video of him honking? I've never heard another dog honk except Elbie! Thanks for sharing the photo - hope to read more about him in the days to come. I'm sure that he will be very clever and delightful and you'll have a lot of fun teaching him tricks! Don't forget to share the videos. Also - I have to say that I love Max's colouring and little white paws. I wonder why I'm delighted that my Elbie posts lured you out of lurk, having Elbie is such an up and down journey but I get so many messages and comments saying that people are going through the same/similar things as I do with Elbie so I feel better about things Unfortunately, I discovered from here that this puppy sub-forum is actually supposed to be for a discussion of puppy problems and requests for advice only and NOT for general puppy chat (experiences/mini triumphs/funny puppy stories/things to consider blah blah) (which unfortunately I have been doing!) so in future I won't be posting any Elbie-related info in this sub-forum unless it's a problem/I'm seeking advice. I'll just update my existing Elbie post in the photos thread. It's a bit of a pain and less easy to find but rulez iz rulez

Ave really is so beautiful and distinctive-looking. That photo of her is hilarious because both she and Champ were waiting for cheese. Champ quickly lost interest and lay down on the ground looking the other way but Ava continued to sit there with extremely intense and winsome patience I agree about how great it is to see the other dogs. I love being able to see and play with other people's doggies - although where was Nugget today? :D Thanks for the kind words about Elbie - he was so monstrous when we first arrived that it was kind of embarrassing Well you know where we are every Sunday! I don't think I've ever met a border collie puppy so I'm in anticipation. Also, 2 weeks from now, Kuma the Akita will be starting at BDOC so presumably he'll be trotting around the offlead area, too! We can have a DOLapalooza

Glad to hear that obedience class went well. Obedience class must be so overwhelming for our doggies in terms of smells, people, dogs and sounds! Good luck for tonight! Elbie finished beginners today (some photos here) and will start bronze next week! So exciting Thanks re the sig - my husband made it for me. He's a web developer and sometimes if I pester him, he'll do graphics for me :D

Elbie 'passed' his beginners class assessment today. :D I say "passed" because it wasn't a formal assessment as such, more a series of tasks he had to complete. 1. Walking forward and then dropping - last to drop were eliminated. My husband didn't realise what we had to do at first so didn't get Elbie to drop so poor Elbie was eliminated in the first round. He went well in the second round though - walking forward and sitting and dropping. 2. Then it was walking in a circle, changing direction and dropping on command. He did very well in this although a small black mini schnauzer kept trying to kill him, which was a little distracting. 3. Relay - walk forward, jump over a small hurdle, drop, then walk, then sit drop. He did very well both times he did this. He did well with demonstrating his tricks as well. The first 15 minutes we were there, Elbie was a complete nightmare though - very unfocussed and completely distracted by all the people, dogs and smells around him. We seriously considered just giving up, but then he snapped back to attention and regained his focus. Elbie and his Crazy Bat Ears of Intense Concentration. Our class was split up for the tasks unfortunately, but there were a few of our usual classmates. This is Rogue who did very well today. A very calm and obedient dog. This is the beautiful Bobbi - you can see the small mini black schnauzer in the background. Bobbi also passed but his owners are going to take a break from classes for six months - I'm going to miss her, though. She's a lovely dog. This is the gorgeous Zeus - with Bobbi in the background. We met clastic today for the first time - hopefully we'll get to meet her fur kids soon In the off-lead area, there are usually some regulars. This beautiful teddy bear is Merlin. He likes chasing Elbie but Elbie seems to quite like him, even though he's not yet at the point of initiating play. This adorable little miss is Ducky. Her 'dad' (who is holding a treat to get Ducky to stay still for this photo) is always very kind to Elbie in the offlead area. My first attempt at taking a photo of Merlin was foiled by Ducky going for Merlin's throat In the end, Merlin's owner had to hold Merlin still for me to take a photo. No prizes for guessing who this elegant and lovely lady is who successfully passed her bronze assessment today So next week, Elbie starts bronze - I wish we had a 'calm' switch for him. He performs so well when calm!

Well Vicks on the leash has been recommended on DOL before (and more than once) by experts (see here) but we're making some progress with Elbie and his leash-biting so we don't need to pursue the Vicks route. For us, it's still the pulling that's driving us bonkers. Again we only made it to the end of the street again today because he was pulling like a maniac. He will sit very nicely but he thinks 'heel' and go means bolt off into the great blue yonder even though he walks very nicely on a loose leash in the house, the backyard and now the front yard. We just have to try to get him not to pull once we're on the road!

We're still unpacking boxes in our new house and while we wait for a dog gate to arrive to divide the study from the entrance, we've been using the cardboard box from our television to act as a temporary puppy gate. The problem was last week, Elbie jumped and sailed right over the top of it. He's done it a few more times now and we don't want him to do it because the floor is laminate and while he looks very comfy doing it, it's bad for his puppy bones. Therefore, we laid the box flat so that while Elbie can climb over the top, he won't jump anymore. Tonight I was making cupcakes and Elbie does not care for the sound of the electric mixer. He doesn't bark, but he doesn't like it. He's not supposed to be in the lounge unattended but he didn't want to be in the study. So this was his compromise ... He lay ON the cardboard box room divider How unimpressed does he look? ETA link to recent post about Elbie's first attempt at herding.

Ha. Elbie doesn't bark at birds but he'll bark at pretty much anything that moves (except cars I guess) when he's on his leash Also, he's smart but his attention can be all over the place. It's a bit frustrating for us because he does things soooooooooo beautifully at home but at obedience class he gets sooo distracted. It's heart-breaking when someone goes: "Oh he doesn't know how to drop yet?" and we're going: "Argh - he can drop - he just wants to lick you to death."

Yes ... it makes us laugh every time we see it, more for the expression on the trainer's face as he clearly thinks: "If any of MY doggies ever did that ...!!??"

As long as you watch koalathebear and not us Surely Ava can't get shown up by her below average intelligence big brother Satch who passed this level first go Haha, OH is Elbie's handler during obedience class and I am the chair fetcher and card fetcher so but I was going to go and film you and Ava so you had a video record of her assessment I shall stay away so as not to distract you! Urgh. Elbie's stands are pretty bad in the sense that they're very brief. His tendency is to sit whenever there is any sort of lull so while we can get him to stand, it's really hard for us to keep him in a stand position for more than a few seconds. I guess I'll add that to our wish list. We're still at Mega Basics for him - this morning, I spent quite a while ringing the doorbell and rewarding him every time he didn't bark and yodel like a maniac Then I made him sit in the front yard and and try to ignore people who walk by. He doesn't bark when he's in the backyard, but if he's in the front yard, he'll bark. It didn't help that one of the guys upon seeing Elbie decided to do strange break dancing moves and wiggles as he walked by ... clastic: there was someone in your group (I think with a cattle dog?) and we noticed that the collar seemed to have two chains attached to it. It wasn't a check chain or a martingale - I don't suppose you happen to know what kind of collar that was? The owner seemed to be able to get very good control over his dog. Also - from what we could see you and Mars did very well. You made it around all the traffic cones. We had Elbie practising this morning and he was still stepping over a few paper towel rolls instead of going around them

Hee! It was a lot of fun and we are definitely going to take him again - although i was a bit grossed out that he wanted to eat sheep poo. Also, I saw you and Mars last night! I wanted to say hi but my OH and I didn't want to disturb your assessment/fun and games We were standing on the other side of the fence from the beginners section looking in like creepy stalkers We saw you and Mars complete the newspaper relay/obstacle course thingy. After we brought Elbie home, since we don't have little traffic cones we've been practising having him weave in and out of paper towel rolls on the ground Our beginners assessment is on Sunday but we wanted to see what the bronze assessment was like (i.e. the road ahead!) and we were afraid we'd be too preoccupied on Sunday. We felt very weird being there sans dog but it was very interesting to see what the bronze assessment's going to be like. Elbie's going to find the "sit still and don't jump up while examiner pats you" test VERY, VERY difficult. We met the adorable Saxon and Saxonpup who seemed to be doing well with Saxon's assessment. I find it a bit hilarious that apparently you and I have the same name and Saxonpup's name is very similar Also, last night a dog and its owner walked by and the dog lurched towards me, sniffing madly and the owner said: "Leave it!" My OH thought it was hilarious that I was an It.

It was an organised lesson - $25 per hour (although we were there almost 2 hours), recommended through the behaviourist that we had consulted about Elbie's Bad Behaviour in the car. The herding trainer works a lot with our behaviourist. I do have a friend whose family owns property with sheep and dogs out in Yass and this was offered up to us, but I felt more comfortable going with someone who is in the habit of giving lessons and working with people referred by our behaviourist etc. I had considered one of the herding clinics but then you share trainer time with 10 other dogs and trying to keep Elbie calm while other dogs were bouncing around and waiting his turn wasn't very appealing so we liked the idea of one on one lessons. The trainer was great - the session after us was a person driving all the way from Sydney for his herding session. It was a very interesting day for all of us. Elbie is quite shy with other dogs so we were fully expecting him to run away from the sheep like .I had also heard a lot about farm dogs from lots of people but hadn't ever met any. My friend has a farm in Finley and she told me about how they have working kelpie x dogs for the outside but her dad has 2 inside pet dogs. I saw the same thing at the property yesterday, they had a Chihuahua and a fluffy dog for indoors and a stack of outdoor dogs. Given that they don't get any pandering/special attention/affection and sleep outside on hard concrete in kennels with no blankets etc, they were remarkably friendly and chirpy dogs. Seeing the working dogs in action is so amazing - they're so focussed and disciplined and even when called off the job - they still want to work

A lot of people more knowledgeable than I am can give you the details about crates etc and there's heaps of info around. For my part, my OH and I were a bit dubious about crates when we first read about them. For us, crate seemed to be a euphemism for what was basically a cage and it DID look kind of cruel. There are some dogs that do not take well to a crate and actually injure themselves, but for us, a crate has been wonderful. Elbie's crate door is open all day - just closed at night when he's sleeping and he loves it. It has a big cushion, blankets and toys. We have draped a blanket around it so it's his comfy little den. He goes in there to sunbake during the afternoon and he goes in there to hide whenever scary things are about like the vacuum cleaner If we're working on things that might be dangerous to him e.g. putting furniture together, unpacking boxes etc he goes into his crate so that he can be near us but safe. If we're only going out for short periods of time, we put him in his crate because it's comfy and he sleeps while we're out. At night, Elbie trots into his crate of his own volition in preparation for bed and when he's pissed off at us, he'll also go and sulk in his crate

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Ouch! Poor Genevieve. I hope she's ok and I hope she sleeps soundly tonight!

We drove out to a property in Yass today to give Elbie his first attempt at herding. First of all, it was almost an hour drive there and back and Elbie did very well in the car. He still barks a bit, but my OH bought some bits and pieces from Bunnings to modify the car harness so that Elbie can't extricate himself, doesn't get tangled and also can't fall down the footwell. All in all, he's made a lot of progress car travel-wise because he seems to like being in the car now, isn't afraid and isn't showing any snappiness. He's a little bit over-stimulated now and then, hence the barking but his periods of quietness are increasing and the big improvement is that he is responding to voice commands in the car. The owner of the property (and herding trainer) spent almost two hours with us. Some videos below - probably boring to most people but funny for us :nahnah: When first introduced to the sheep, Elbie disgraced us by . Poor . Then he showed more . Then he showed more interest in . As a real sheep dog shows us how it's done, . Here's where Elbie . Elbie finally . Elbie which are told is fine given that he's just new to the whole thing . Here ... errr ... Elbie Elbie The owner had 14 working border collies - all outdoor dogs who never came inside and he seemed very affectionate towards Elbie although he did swat him with his hat a few times and bat him across the nose a few times when he was jumping about like a crazy pup. Elbie looked quite bemused at first but became very well-behaved - he liked the owner very much. The owner pronounced Elbie a well-balanced dog who possesses herding instinct - although not yet fully developed. We'll probably take him back when he's a little bit older to do it again - once it clicks in his head that he has a job to do he may take it more seriously. Although Elbie probably doesn't have a very developed herding instinct, he seemed to have a very good time although it was raining and the three of us were wet and muddy so Elbie had a bath as soon as he got home, much to his disgust He's now in his dog bed, curled up and fast asleep - perhaps dreaming of sheep.

tada: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=175131

Oooh - can you give me the details of that book? It sounds really interesting. I usually trawl youtube but a book sounds much more structured. Elbie's going to have a herding session tomorrow at our behaviourist's suggestion - we'll find out if he has any herding instinct or if he runs away from the sheep Will keep you posted. Good luck getting little Genevieve to sleep tonight ETA: Ooops - found the thread you were talking about it and am buying from The Book Depository. They're so great and unlike amazon.com have free shipping worldwide.

Is he food motivated? We scatter kibble in the grass and that keeps Elbie occupied for a while. After that, he will frequently have a sunbake outside and enjoy himself even though he prefers being inside.

??? Someone made a strangely nasty comment in another thread. I don't know the details so have no idea what was going on - the comment has now been deleted. I hope Risyntira comes back and shares photos again though, I live vicariously through others now that my own puppy has lost his early snubby puppy nose and dopey eyes :D

Video please! Also, obedience classes should tire her out. Elbie seems to have a reduction in energy levels every Sunday afternoon If you ever come to Canberra, we should definitely have a play date for our puppies

In another thread you'll see that wizzle's already been doing heaps with Genevieve in terms of training - see . I don't know if it's normal but in the early days, my puppy used to get sooooooooo tired after doing his little 5-10 minutes of obedience training but these days he doesn't get tired AT ALL and runs through all of his tricks in 5 minutes without batting an eyelash It means that we are constantly looking for new things to tire him out and keep him occupied - all suggestions very welcome

I am really impressed with those owners that seem to be able to take their puppies on long-ish walks (I think 30 minutes is supposed to be the max for a six month puppy). Someone told me we should be walking Elbie (5months a bit) at least 7 km a day and I almost laughed my head off. Once we get him to walk on a loose leash consistently then I'll consider it, until then it's just an endless round of pull/stop/pull/stop Like you, I can see a gradual improvement in my dog. This morning I was actually just having him sitting in the front yard and whenever a car whizzed past, I made him look at me.

Elbie walks beautifully on a loose leash in the house, in the backyard and during obedience class (mostly). Once out on the street though or after obedience class, he tries to pull like a bit of a maniac and his attention is all over the shop. You're pretty much supposed to stop as soon as he pulls and stand still or change directions because you don't want to encourage pulling. Especially for a dog like Marley - he's going to be strong and when he pulls later, he'll ignore any discomfort easily and just keep pulling. As a result, we've really only made it around the block with Elbie on a loose leash and some days he's so distracted that we only make it to the end of the street and have to come back home because there's no point going on. Thus, I've gone back to basics with Elbie - for his breakfast, I take him out into the front yard and we walk about and whenever he doesn't pull/looks around at me when I say: "look at me", he gets a treat (one measley bit of kibble . Basically you're supposed to make it so that whenever you say: "look at me" or "watch", he looks up at you. That's a way of always refocussing his attention back onto you. Once we get Elbie's focus, he is very very focussed and super-obedient but alas, the outside world is very exciting for a little dog and so I'm going to just keep walking around the front yard with him during breakfasts and rewarding him when he focusses on me. We had an additional problem before that Elbie kept attacking his leash but fortunately he's largely stopped doing that so we're able to just focus on the attention/pulling issue. Obedience classes are great but Elbie seems to distinguish i.e. classes are 'work' so he's generally pretty well-behaved despite all the distractions. On the road, he will be less obedient. One funny thing that happened the other day was that we had Elbie in a sit and stay and he accidentally got released by the cav owner next to us who was releasing HER dog from its sit Since then we've been practising distracting Elbie so that he only listens to the instructions of HIS handler. Good luck with Marley! PS: The cav owner in my class has a hilarious solution to her puppy's attention problem. She literally walks next to him saying: "lookatmelookatmelookatmelookatmelookatmelookatmelookatm e" the whole time. It is so funny.

No. Can't say I'm all that sorry about it either. I do not support the warehousing of dogs that are unsuitable to live in the community. Ah, thanks for updating your comment. I was about to post and ask for your reasons - because I was curious.