Genabee

I have tried to video G a few times, but the stupid noise my camera makes when it is being turned on, always wakes her! She goes from lying there to standing upright in a nano second!

I'm with you I think... Though I would try squashing her into a backpack first.

Yes. If she is making noises I can tell what room she is in and what she is most likely doing. On a few occasions now, all has gone quiet and I have caught her doing the following: a) chewing my phone charger in the bedroom (Hubby forgot to shut the door ) b) sitting in a pile of sorted dirty washing in the laundry, chewing on a pair of my knickers :p (wrong on so many levels) c) trying to climb into the washing machine (it was pretty funny actually) d) licking the water in the shower recess (and proceeds to walk her wet paws all over my clean floors) e) climbing on to the dining room table (I laughed out of shock the first time, now it is a PITA) I could keep going I'm sure... God she makes me laugh though.

Funnily enough he does know the wait command and I used it for the first time in relation to loo time yesterday I wanted him to wait while I ducked into the bathroom and a few minutes later he was still sitting there waiting patiently. It made me laugh at the time. It's nice to know you have your own entourage when going to the loo, isn't it! G always stands slightly to the side of the door too, so she doesn't get stood on when I come out (and not always expecting her to be there). I think she has learnt this from past experience! :p

Funnily enough, Genevieve has never done this! She does however, pick it up in her mouth and run off with it into another room! Thankfully, she rarely uses them so they are always clean.

KTB - Does Elbie know the 'wait' command? Genevieve used to squeak and transfer weight from paw to paw when she was separated by a closed door. But whenever I am going somewhere I don't want her to follow (like into our room or the toilet), I always say 'wait'. Now she just sits there and literally, waits for me. She makes no noise at all. I always give her a pat or a cuddle on the way back out. She seems to understand that 'wait' means 'hang on, Mummy will be back in a second'. I also use 'wait' when I am trying to brush her... she knows that if she lets me do it, it will be short lived!

I used to shove one of her toys in her mouth! Mouthing can also be a symptom of other things. Make sure that puppy has been out to the toilet and isn't hungry. Like a toddler, they fidgit (sp?) if they need to potty or eat!!! Ice cubes to play with may also distract him. My pup is 6 months now and she still tries to mouth every now and then, but I find distracting her straight away works. I usually get some teats and run through some tricks with her and then she forgets about mouthing me!

My bold. I love it!!!!

We did puppy school at a private school, with three other puppies and I loved it. I loved the firm but fair approach to the pups and the exercises were practical and I could see how they would work in with my routine at home. And it was very helpful for all the questions and behavioural issues I was experiencing at the time. Genevieve was the youngest (8 weeks to the day when we started) and the smallest in the class, which I am glad we started so young! When I started obedience at a club, a bit like KTB, I was a bit disappointed on the first class. We were in the Beginners class, with a lot of other dogs, who I later worked out had not done puppy school, so had no idea of basic commands. Here I was with this super excited 16 week old puppy, who thought she was at a party with all these other dogs!!!! Genevieve under normal circumstances, does what is asked of her. But she has been known to get distracted by the other dogs and will come running to any other name! After a couple of weeks we have graduated to the Bronze class. Again like KTB, I am finding this similar exercises but more is expected of them. I have also found she has responded well to the jump in level, as she is generally surrounded by other dogs who are behaving!!! The Beginners class frustrated me somewhat as the other dogs around were doing their own thing and a lot of the owners didn't know that they were doing. As someone pointed out earlier, the socialisation is just as important as the actual obedience. This is a large part of why I started it with her. There are some weeks when she is really focussed and there are other weeks when she just wants to run around like a crazy thing!! I have just accepted that now! Hopefully as she matures, she will have less crazy weeks and more focussed ones! It sounds like you are doing a great job with Max! Keep it up and I am sure you will have a great friend for life!

I don't think either husband nor I am up to dancing around with Elbie in a dorky outfit :p It's a bit like how we like the idea of Elbie doing agility but neither of us really likes the idea of being the person in the field running around with him and gesturing at the various apparatus :p Can Genevieve dance? The little doggies look so cute on hind-legs doing a kind of pirouette Elbie just looks spastic when he does it. I looked into doing doggy dancing with her, but the only place that does it is miles away and in the evenings - when I work! I think my husband would skin me alive if we actually did it though! Being an ex dancer myself, he insists our children are not going to dance - the same would more than apply to the dog! I think she would look cute too! Though, I think she would be more in to her own choreography, and not mine! I know what you mean about liking the idea of something but not wanting to be the one to execute it! Why do you think we have a lap dog!!!!

I have been slack on the filming front and am no where near as talented as KTB... I can't even get coordinated enough to video and give commands to the dog simultaneously!! But, here are my measly attempts to do just that! Please excuse the poor lighting and cinematography! (learning to roll over) (working hard for her dinner!) (an example of temporarily memory loss, testing Mummy's patience!)

About the pooping - Elbie has a toileting command which is "poop poop". It applies to wees and poops and whenever we say it, he knows he's supposed to go. Have you got a similar command for your pups? If not, if you developed a command then that could be a way to teach them to go on the dog loo. In the beginning, we took Elbie out on a leash to Poo Corner and didn't leave until he 'eliminated' (hilarious word) - saying "poop poop" when he did his thing. It's never too late to 'retrain' because sometimes after rain, we had to 'retrain' Elbie to go in the right spot so it was back on the leash again. As to tricks, we have two books: (1) Dog Tricks by Mary Ray; and (2) 101 Dog Tricks by Kyra Sundance. To be honest, we learned most of our tricks here at DOL or over at youtube. I was writing a bit about it here. Elbie seems to really like learning tricks and doesn't get bored so we use tricks as a way of keeping him entertained because we're a bit slack about walking him When we feel like teaching Elbie a trick, we look it up on the net. These days for new tricks (like tidying up), we use a clicker to get Elbie pointed in the right way and then after that we can just work with "good boy" to get him to do what we want. I like the clicker but I'm very unco so can't hold the clicker at the same time I'm juggling everything else. The order Elbie learned his tricks was approximately as follows: - sit - wait for food - drop - shake hands, high five, wave - spin and speak - rollover (this one took us a while) - backwards walk - stand and bow (he still struggles with these :p - are you shy? - drop dead Weirdly, "stay" took us a really, really long time to teach him because he always wanted to follow us. I can't remember when we taught him, but he has known "leave it" for a while, too. Tricks he's working on now are: - balancing treat on nose - putting things in a box - commando crawl Let me know if you need any help with any of them. wizzle has been working really hard with her puppy as well and probably has some good tips for motivating an excitable puppy and will have a good memory of "before" and "after" with the puppy. wuffles is quite a bit more advanced than I am and has been teaching her puppy more intellectual recognition exercises like rear end awareness etc. Good luck! Can't wait to see the vids. Novjan - I think it is awesome that you can get the dogs to wipe their feet before coming in!!!! I always try to get Genevieve to stand on the door mat, so I can wipe her paws against it!! Not very productive though! She just tries to mouth my hands! I now scoop her up and bring her inside and towel dry her. Though I am not much sure how longer I will be able to do that for. When she was little, she picked up sit, wait, down (as in to lie down), drop (as in dropping something out of her mouth), high five, shake and touch quite easily. Stay took us a bit of work and even then she would only do it if she could still see us! That being said, it only took her about three days before she knew that she had to sit and stay to get her meals. As she has got older, we have added more things that she has to do before she gets food. It is hilarious now - she just throws herself on the floor, rolls over and stays in the down position. The last three weeks, we have really been working on down stays and and roll over because these were 'problem' areas. She now does both of these things pretty well. To get her to stay in the down position I basically had to pin her to the ground! Once she got that I wasn't letting her go, she started to relax. I went through a lot of treats! :p I have found that she also had temporarily memory loss for a few weeks too. Which was a bit frustrating! I basically didn't try and teach her anything new in this time and worked on the existing tricks. I have also found that some tricks were better worked on before meals times (roll over, high five), while those that involved her staying, was better to do when she was a bit sleepy! Generally, now I only give her a treat when we are working on new things - she just gets a pat or a 'good girl' when she does an old trick. At dog school though she gets a few treats!! My new thing now is getting her to do a down stay while I rest a piece of kibble on her front paw - she has to wait for me to say OK before she can have it! When she is in the mood, she just stares at it so intently... you see her following my hand (with the kibble). Much like Elbie, Genevieve likes working on new tricks (or is it spending quality time with me?) and when I am done and go to walk away, she gives me that look that say "Awwww Mum!!!". I find when I keep up the trick/obedience work, she is generally better behaved. If I have had a couple of days where I have slacked off, not only can she 'forget', she just becomes naughty and implements her selective hearing! On the rare days when the weather is nice, we will go for a walk to the park and I try and work on with some of her things in the park. This can be hard because there are so many distractions! We will get there eventually! My number one tip: is to have a glass of wine and be really really patient!!! If you feel yourself getting frustrated, walk away. When they do eventually get it, embrace it, because it makes the hard work seem worth it!!

I am glad to hear he is ok - that will teach him for sneaking off with food! Thanks for the heads up about potato peel! I had no idea!

Hello! Ruffles - I love that little exercise with Ava and the phone book!!! I can get Genevieve to walk to heel on a lead quite nicely, and when I stop (ie. at an intersection) she will sit... but either about a metre behind me, or to the side facing me!!! Never, right next to me! So we are still working on that! I don't think I could use a peg on G's nose KTB - it is soooooo little and there isn't much fur on it, so not really anything for it to grab on to! I did try the peanut butter thing once, she just managed to rub her face into the carpet. I like the ham idea though! We didn't go to dog school today... we had a storm hit last night and when I looked outside this morning, apart from the rain, my back yard was having a mini flood! So I didn't fancy taking her to school where should would end up wet and black! :p So I have been throwing her ball around and trying to teach her the art of 'fetch'. She chases after it but doesn't like to bring it back to me! She's worn herself out now though, as she is curled up on the couch - lost in amongst my blankets and cushions! Did Elbie and Ava give their Daddy's a present and a big wet dog kiss this morning?

This is an interesting read. I am feeding Advance with fresh sardines at the moment and although her coat feels smooth and is shiny, she has dandruff. I use Aloveen too... so I am suspecting that it is the Advance food. Someone recommended Artemis to me, yet to try it. I am scared to buy a bag (of any new food) and she doesn't like it or she loses her shiny, glossy coat!

And why not? Elbie would be really good at doggy dancing.

Genevieve barks at, growls at and then pounces on her toys. It it quite funny. Especially when she has been quiet for a little while and I have assumed she is asleep, then all of a sudden I hear it start!

Don't worry KTB - the pic of me in my sig - that is my hubby's old school leavers jumper that I wear to bed! I have been known to put petrol in the car and go to woolies in my matching PJ sets. If I could wear them to work I would. No shame here! I was trying to teach G to balance a treat on her nose, but she kept going for my fingers!! So now I make her drop and stay (which she is finally doing now! yay!!) and I put one piece kibble on her paw and she has to wait for me to say OK before she can have it. It is so funny!!! I haven't filmed that one yet, but I should. Her patience and ability to wait has certainly increased. The way she stares down the kibble is hilarious! The place could go up in smoke around her and she would be oblivious - too busy staring down the kibble! I don't like my chances of teaching her 'shy' because I can't get anything near her face without her trying to chomp my fingers!!

I don't let the dog lick me period. Definitely not going to let her lick my wounds...

He looks like Elbie's brother!!!!

I have used the puppy pee pads. However mainly for when I was going out and over night. When no one was home or at night when we were in bed, she was in the laundry, so I set one up on the floor by the side door. She was very good at going on the mat from the first day she was home. She was holding most nights by about 10/11 weeks, (she came home at 8 weeks) but around 16 weeks started waking me up in the night to take her out (this I worked out, was more an excuse to play, not to toilet). Though there would often be a piddle on the pad when I came home from work, as obviously there was no one to take her out. By choice it would appear that she prefers to toilet outside. When I am home (which is generally the better part of the day), she scratches on the back door now to be let out and has done this for a while. When I was first training, I used to take her outside (rain, hail or shine) every couple of hours or so (after eating, sleeping, drinking, chewing, playing, walking...) - and watch her like a hawk in between. That is not to say we haven't had the odd accident in the house, we have. But generally, she knows to go outside. She hasn't actually used the pee pads for a while now, but when I leave for work I always leave one down for her just in case. I know the moment I lift it, she will need it. She also sleeps on our bed through the night and I think since she has been doing that, I have only had to take her outside once or twice. I always have a couple on me though if I am taking her to someone's house or something like that (I have a nappy bag for the dog, complete with nappies, blankets, treats, toys and bottled water! :D ). I recently spend the weekend at my parent's place (where she had not been before) and they came in handy there for the first day or so, as there was no back door for her to scratch on! By the end of the weekend (when I was leaving ) she had worked out where the toilet area was and was fine - trotted off herself! In short, they came in handy, but I was also lucky in that she was pretty quick to 'potty train'. It seemed instinctive to her, to want to go outside. If your dog isn't like that, you may run into problems.

Thanks for the link poodle fan! There are some good looking things on that site! I use treats all the time with G, admittedly I usually end up using her kibble.... but I find that for obedience school it isn't grabbing her attention enough - and it is very little and crumbly in my finger nails! But I don't want to give her anything that will make her fat or upset her tummy. The beef liver strips you can buy are annoying - I need something that is already in small pieces. I did try the schmakos popcorn pieces, that I cut down further, but I don't think she is so keen on those. I am going to be the next person to spend a fortune on dog treats!!

That is sooo cooooool!! How awesome was the little skirt!!! I was waiting for the maraccas to come out!

I have found that if I give a treat every time for something that she is learning new, with the 'older' tricks, I can just use praise and/or a pat. This has been effective for us, as I always throw in the 'old' tricks with the 'new' ones, so she still gets her treats, just not so many! I also time training with meal times, so I use her normal food (kibble) as treats. When you move on to the more difficult tasks of staying and dropping, you might have a defiant dog on your hands! As Elbie does, Genevieve will now pull out all her tricks, in anticipation!!! It is pretty funny to watch as she throws her self on the floor, rolls over and then tries to do a high five while laying down!!!! And yes, she barks at me if I can't pick up the kibble fast enough! Just like she barks at me if I am reading my book or sitting on the couch trying to watch the news (maybe she is telling me I am boring? ), and haven't invited her up to join me (she sits and waits to be asked, transfering weight from one paw to the other! ) I wouldn't worry too much Aussie - sounds like she is being a teenager and pushing the boundaries a bit! She is giving you attitude, so give her a bit back!

My sister does this with her 8 month old Westie. Lily would have to be the most well behaved puppy I have ever met. It is a very effective method. And she is a baby! My parents' dog, who is 8 years, has always carried on like a pork chop, barking and throwing herself around, when someone comes to the door. They used to put her in another room, but that over time, has made the issue worse. The dog has OCD and her own barking stresses her... they used a barking collar for a while and she has changed. She runs to the side of the door, sits there and waits! It is amazing to watch after seeing how she used to be. They don't need to use the collar anymore. I am not advocating the collar, I am more suggesting that moving the dog away from the door may create more issues, as it doesn't really teach them how to behave correctly in that situation, it just temporarily moves the problem. The dog wont associate being moved away with the barking, so will continue to do it. Does your dog stay when told normally? If your dog has a good stay, work on the mat idea. You can practise ringing the door bell yourselves and reward for the desired behavior. I am sure puppy will have it in no time! Be patient though. As for barking when you are reading or watching TV, have a water bottle near by. One or two quirts and puppy will only have to see you look at the bottle and she will be out of there!!