koalathebear

Does Australia have a place that's anything like the Olympic Sanctuary (http://www.olympicanimalsanctuary.org/) in the US? dogsintraining over at livejournal were recommending that to someone in the US who had a dog that had killed several other dogs. Some amazing stories on the website and they take on pups. I haven't seen anything similar here but I'm a new dog owner and not that dog savvy.

haha. But does he like Elbie does? It's so hard NOT to laugh

Hahaha! So glad Elbie's not the only sook around. He is such a little drama queen sometimes. We feel bad laughing at him but we don't think he's genuinely upset, just trying to get attention

Bwahahaha - that is SUCH an hilarious skit

He's crate trained and loves his crate - he sleeps in it at night and goes in there at various times during the day for a rest. He also goes there to hide from the vacuum cleaner I'm not sure how far we will take him with obedience etc. He is going well and a lot of people have said that he would be very good at agility but we're a bit uncertain about that given that it was unfortunately necessary to have him desexed at 10 weeks, thus his bones probably aren't as strong as they would be in a dog that was desexed later. Hopefully we can find him a nice active activity that won't be too hard on his bones.

Heh, ok mostly kelpie then. With the extra bits of border collie (and any other bits) he's still supposed to be a tough old boot of a working dog As to his bonding issues, I fear he's just going to have to deal with it. He's being left alone for increasing periods of time and is doing well. From what we can tell from the webcam, when left alone he only whinges (no barking) for half a minute at most before going off to chase his orange juice bottle so the sookiness is probably just him being a spoiled brat rather than any real distress. As to the monkey noises he makes when we leave a room, we'll just keep ignoring him. Given that he only bleats for a few moments, we suspect it's not serious - we just always thought that a male kelpie x wouldn't be quite so sooky.

I agree While it doesn't look coyote it definitely doesn't look like a shiba... Such beautiful beautiful dogs. My friend owns this beautiful baby. Shibas are possibly the only type of pure-bred dog I'd ever consider buying (given that I've always been an M&M-type person). There is the cutest little shiba puppy at our obedience club and he thinks he's a big dog and it's just beautiful. Nonetheless, a shiba wouldn't be suitable in our house with our timid puppy and I have read so much stuff about them including posts like this from demented shiba owners to know that they're probably a little too much dog for me at this stage One day though ...

Oh that's hilarious - I also sometimes tell Elbie to grow a pair and my OH has to remind me that we've had him desexed and then the guilt sinks in Thing is my dog is supposed to be a hardy, tough working dog. We were warned before we got our dog that kelpies could be aloof, didn't really want affection or human closeness etc. Hmmm. Sorry to hear about Charlie's backbone. Eek! He does so well though!

Hullo - poor you. Elbie cried, screamed and yelled non-stop for the first three nights we got him - drove us absolutely insane and we couldn't believe that he had the energy to keep up the yelling. We had the hot water bottle, alarm clock, 2CN radio with late night talk, soft toy .... towel with our scent on it .. everything! If you wanted to do an interim measure, then you could try for the travel-sized crate that we used for toilet-training Elbie. It was kind of a step before he went into the big scary metal crate that looks like a cage I hope you can tire her out before bedtimes with lots of obedience work etc. Alas for us, people kept telling us to tire out Elbie but he is a mega mega energetic dog and we found that there was absolutely nothing that we could do that really tires him out. It made absolutely no difference whether we tired to tire him out during the day. What we found worked for us was that we have a routine that Elbie follows at night. Things vary during the day but at HIS bedtime, we start the kettle, take him out for toileting, bring him back and he watches as we fill up his hot water bottle, wrap it up in a blanket and then he goes into his crate, gets two toys and is tucked in with his thick blanket - then he settles down for the night. He doesn't wake until morning and these days, in the morning we can actually even pop him back in his crate if we feel like sleeping in. Before, he'd wake up at the crack of down and so would we We find it really weird because even if he's slept heaps during the day, he'll still very obediently trot to his crate to sleep for the night when it's bedtime. So you probably just need to figure out your own routine for Genevieve so that she knows that when certain things happen - it's sleep time for her no matter what time it is. Also, because you've kind of 'given in' to her a couple of times now, you may just have to do the tough love thing and pop her in her crate and don't let her out even if she cries - and just take her out at regular intervals for toileting and no other time - try not to talk or play with her at all even if she is being very cute If she cries, possibly the most you could concede would be to stick your fingers in her crate to comfort her. I know I sound mean but Elbie could and can be incredibly manipulative and you give him an inch and he takes a mile. I know if we had ever let him sleep in our bed, there's no way he'd ever settle for less after that :D Good luck!!

I am relieved I'm not the only one with a sooky dog. I have a horrible feeling it's genetic because the woman we got Elbie from was always telling us: "Elbie's just like his father - his father is a very smart and obedient kelpie - but a big sook". I have at least 3 emails where she mentions the sookiness of Elbie's father, albeit with affection ... Sometimes for a joke, we imitate and say to Elbie: "Be a man! Do the right thing!" Ah well

Elbie's 5+ months now and doing well overall. One thing I've noticed that doesn't seem to be changing as he grows older is that he is still a big sook. We leave him alone in the yard while we go out and also in his crate. If he's been crated, then when we get back he's generally quite relaxed (as if he's been sleeping) and doesn't make much fuss. If he was left out in the yard, he'll make plaintive noises to be let in. From what we can see, he seems fine while we're away and does not get up to particularly destructive behaviours (we have a web cam). We always ignore him when we get home - unloading groceries or just pottering around. We only let him into the house when he's quiet again. We let him out of his crate after we finish unpacking groceries etc. Generally he doesn't fuss at the time of departure because we leave him with a kong so to be honest, if he whimpers - we're long gone by the time he starts. The thing that I find odd is that he'll make whimpering monkey noises when one of us leaves the house. Sometimes he'll whimper when we leave the room to go to another room and he can't see us. If he knows where we are then he's fine e.g. if he has followed my OH and realises that OH is in the bathroom, then he'll trot back to his dog bed and lie down peacefully, otherwise he'll make his little plaintive monkey noises. He is happy to lie in a different room to us (for instance we are in the study now and he's in his crate in the kitchen) but generally he prefers to keep us in visual range. He'll play in the yard on his own but again, his favourite spot is where he can see us. If we leave a room, even briefly, he almost always has to follow us to see what we're doing before going back to his bed - generally he'll try to plonk himself down in the same room as both of us so we can see him trotting back and forth between rooms trying to figure out where everyone is going to end up. What's a little annoying is that when we're out and Elbie's on a leash, if one of us walks away e.g. to buy something/put something in the bin etc Elbie will freak out. He seems to want us together at all times and he'll bark and yelp quite loudly if one of us walks away. The one staying with him of course doesn't comfort him or pander to his behaviour but we aren't sure what to do to get him to stop freaking out. If he's offlead then he's fine and just runs back and forth between us very happily. Both the monkey whimpering and the 'separation yelping' only lasts for a short while and then he settles but I am a little surprised that he's still such a sook as I assumed he'd grow out of it by now. Does this still happen to anyone else's 'older' pup?

A rather thin shiba perhaps. I have to admit that when I saw the adorable dingo puppies in another thread (here), I thought that they looked a little like shiba puppies. I don't think coyotes and shibas are very similar though

*shakes a paw* O baby gates, why must you be so popular on ebay? I am horrified yet fascinated by the number of times I keep getting gazumped in my attempt to buy various baby gates i swear, there must be hordes of devoted baby/dog parents sitting by their computers during the final minutes of an auction to bid like crazy

All the sleeping puppies are soooo cute. I'm amazed by how easy it is for our pups to sleep in this awkward positions. When Elbie wakes up, he will do a long streeeeeeeeeeetch and then another streeeeeeeeeeetch and as we greet him, he might give us another streeeeeeeeetch before coming in for the pat Also, sometimes when he wakes up from a long sleep and we open the door of the kitchen to wee him, he staggers along woozily like he's drunk or something. It's very funny - on the one hand he's clearly half-awake but on the other hand, I wonder if he ever truly sleeps. This is because when he's sleeping, as soon as one of us gets up to do anything, he'll poke his head up or at least open his eyes to follow watch us go around the room. No matter how quietly we try to sneak, we always seem to wake him. Also, I had no idea that you weren't supposed to pat a sleeping dog We pat Elbie all the time when he's sleeping, usually when we need to wake him up and he'll just open his eyes and give us a sleepy look as if to say: "Do I have to get up?" I had no idea that some dogs get snappy. Ooops

Coyotes definitely do NOT have the beautiful shiba smile ...

Sigh. I sympathise with you a lot. We suspect we're not going on any more holidays because we don't want to leave Elbie with a kennel and our family aren't dog people so we can't ask them to look after them. RiotACT people recommend dog walkers or people to come over but I've read some horror stories about the walker/carer not showing up for some reason and the poor dogs almost starving to death ;) If we can teach Elbie to be sleep outside, then we might be able to have someone come over to look after him in the backyard etc. Hope you find a suitable solution!

Nice to meet you and Shandy, too! Thanks for the info. We're trying to be careful with Elbie because even though he came from a family with kids, cats and dogs and he's been to puppy class - he always seems far more interested in people than dogs and he's definitely very submissive and uncertain of other dogs. We realise that it might be the case that he might never want to 'play' with other dogs, but we do want him to learn to be comfortable in the presence of other dogs. He's good in class and seems unfussed by the presence of other dogs - it's juts during play times, we notice that he never initiates play and when other dogs try to place with him, he'll hide ... We're all enjoying our classes at BDOC though and I personally feel more comfortable with dogs whose owners make the effort to take their dogs for training etc ;) kumaAkita: You've got classes with Kuma starting very soon! how exciting ;) I shall keep an eye out for you and your little (not so little bear! I have never met an akita before! If Elbie flunks beginners then I guess we might be in the same class

I am so glad you asked the question. I was thinking: "My puppy pretty much reacts to everything" ;) there are a couple of old labs and golden retrievers at my obedience school that are placid as cows and don't react to anything and I look at them very wistfully every Sunday ... I thought it was in the nature of a puppy/dog that they are interested in everything and therefore respond to everything - I guessed that there was a technical term though

I'm still shocked at how fast Elbie is losing ihs baby-teeth and getting his adult teeth. Suddenly he has a mouth of big white teeth in place of his itty bitty little baby teeth! Fortunately he's very gentle with mouth - taking treats etc

I am off work this week because of the surgery so we went to the grounds today and had a wonderful time - no one else was there. Elbie ran and ran and ran - chasing his frisbee, his ball and having a really great time. I don't think he's had access to such a big place to run before! We practised some heel work but mostly have been trying to practise recalls with him - he doesn't tend to wander very far away from us though so we haven't really had a real opportunity to really test his recalls. For instance, he'll run a bit but always come circling back. Someone else arrived so we took our leave because they were there for Serious Training. We also checked out the Ginninderra Dog Park at Diddams Close (hilarious name) but sans dog. It looks all right but very grass-free ... At the BDOC grounds, we saw kangaroos in the distance - my OH is Canadian so he got a real kick out of seeing the kangaroos Elbie is now asleep in his dog bed - the running must have tired him out

Good luck with your puppy. Hope everything turns out ok.

Here on DOL it is We let our puppy sleep in the house in the kitchen in a crate with blankets and hot water bottle - never in our bed or even in our bedroom though. I have allergies that are being kept under control and having him in our room would just be pushing it too far. He gets to wander around the house supervised when we're home and he's crated at night. That being said, my family are absolutely horrified that we still let him sleep inside. As far as they're concerned, a dog is a dog and our dog is a kelpie/bc so they think he should sleep outside and that we're spoiling him. Nonetheless, our decision has been to let him sleep inside. When the weather is warmer, I WOULD like to try to teach him how to sleep outside in his kennel just to teach him to adapt to different circumstances. One of the tradesmen that came to our house to install our security doors said that when his dog had always been an indoor dog and then when he went on his honeymoon and asked a friend to come around and look after his dog (feed, water, walk etc) that wasn't enough because his dog wasn't used to sleeping outside, freaked out, jumped the fence and went looking for him and since then has been a fence jumper Thus, while we don't really see a holiday in our near future, if we did go on holiday we wouldn't want to put Elbie in a kennel and we'd probably ask someone to come around to keep an eye on him so if that's the case - he needs to know how to sleep outside in his kennel ... There are many happy, healthy, beloved family dogs that sleep outside I know that some breeds of dogs aren't suited for outdoors, but there are many that are. Good luck with your little doggy ;) Edited to correct my appalling typing... Stupid paws ... Sigh ...

wuffles showed me a hilarious photo of Ava sleeping on her back, paws in the air ... Elbie does that, too but Ava looked like she was doing sleep acrobatics. What amazes me about my puppy is that he seems to be able to fall asleep in a heartbeat in what look to be incredibly uncomfortable positions ... Sometimes he's on his back, sometimes his head is perched on the walls of his dog bed, sometimes he has his head on his rawhide bone or a hard toy ... Probably the funniest sleep incident for me was one night when Elbie was still a very wee puppy, I was watching Supernatural in a cold kitchen with a sleeping Elbie for company. He was fast asleep in his travel crate which we had been using for toilet training him. At one point, the evil angel Zachariah started to summon Michael the Archangel. He started babbling away in Latin and suddenly I heard a clunk to my right and Elbie's paw fell out of his crate with a dramatic and very heavy thud ... Then, almost immediately after the first thud, half of a sleeping Elbie toppled out, too!!! I was too slow to get a photo of the claw/paw, but here was a still-sleeping Elbie flopping out of his crate in response to Zachariah's Latin summons! He was half in the crate, half-out and he's still fast asleep It startled me a lot!

Wow - can we have photos of the destroyed kongs? I can't imagine Elbie being able to destroy any of his kongs. Even his plushies don't get totally destroyed - just a bit mauled and repairable with stitching I have never seen a destroyed kong!!

Thanks for all the suggestions! Andisa - I have been trying to get the dog gate you mentioned but it's clearly popular because I have now been outbid no less than three times I shall keep trying! Target is also having a sale so I'll see if Canberra Target has the baby gates. One of the reasons my OH is of two minds about agility for Elbie is that he's afraid it will teach him to jump fences ... At present he shows no kelpie-esque inclinations to fence jump or jail-break... I guess we can always use our baby gates (if I ever get some!) for training purposes