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In training terms, that would be the completely wrong thing to do, it is rewarding the dog for behaviour that is not calm and is encouraging it. What you've said goes against leadership training.

Ignoring a dog for at least 5 minutes when coming home can show a dog that on your arrival back to the home that you're still the leader, this type of training can put a stop to mild aniexty and unacceptable behaviours pretty fast. It's not about ignoring the dog all night, just for the first 5 minutes. If you're happy to give into your dogs when they're excited and not calm that's up to you and what you're happy with, however in this case we're talking about a young dog that is showing some issues. By doing the ignore training your dogs would learn within a week to be calm before entering the house so you're neighbours would be much happier going forward. A dog being over excited when you come home isn't a terribly positive thing.

Billdog A dog that is not confident can be a leader of a pack if you're not being leadership material. It is not a healthy way for this dog to live if it's not leadership material, infact it's rather dangerous and dogs that are not confident in the position of a leader will generally aggressively as that's what works for them. This will be very hard for you especially for the first 2 weeks on NILIF but I promise you that you won't regret it.

Ah yep. Some stop fast with being ignored, others take longer. A puppy under 6 months doesn't have great control over their bladder. Can the puppy be outside when you come home?

In my opinion, it bears no relevance whether the dog is an inside or outside dog. I would be more interested to hear about how you manage the dog on a day to day basis in terms of leadership. Do you find the dog is demanding for attention at all?

Ignore him. Young puppies sometimes do this from over excitment. It's hard but try to ignore for 5 minutes when you walk in the door, pretend the puppy doesn't even exist.

To give you an idea, this is what we have at our place:

Completely up to you when you de-sex your dog. If your dog came from a breeder check with them when they feel the best time is. Puppies in shelters get desexed at 8 weeks of age. There are pros and cons. You do whatever you feel most comfortable with and as long as you make an educated decision and keep your girl safe during her seasons I'm sure things will be ok.

r.i.p sweet girl

Supervised play and the bigger dog understanding what gentle means, will take time though.

Run for the hills!

CHEATER GOD DAMN IT! LOL Just kidding! Go on Myszka give the clicker just a little go just so you can tick one more thing off LOL Myszka, how is your girl taking to drive training? Does she have natural drive or did you need to build it?

You can not repremand a dog for something you didn't catch them doing it. Dogs don't understand what they did wrong, what they do understand is that you're not happy with then but they don't know why. Also you're calling her and then telling her off.....what you're doing is setting yourself up for faliure, why would she want to come in the future if she knows she's going to be repremanded for it. I would reccomend that you stop setting your dog up for faliure by letting her have free reign of the house, she can't be trusted so she shouldn't get the privillge. yes, it does sound like your dog is demanding attention and if I were in your position I'd get onto the NILIF program straight away. I would further suggest you head out to the book store and invest of 1 of 2 books or both: 1) Ceasers Ways 2) The other end of the leash

No Chew has worked for me on all but one dog (Labrador) he didn't bat an eyelid. Can you take the dog out for a walk before you go, tire pup out and it'll be calmer. Big bones (if old enough to chew unsupervised), paddling pools, sandpits, kongs, treat balls....you get the drift ;) If you get a sandpit or paddling pool don't forget to teach the dog how to use by playing games and hidding food in them You could also use some rescue remedy if needbe. With our fosters we always do test leaves to see how they will handle it and pretend we're not home starting at 5 minutes then up to an hour over a 2 days period, allows the dog to know you'll return as well. Remember don't make a fuss when leaving the dog or coming home Get rid of your stress because you're going to stress your dog out.

Your dog toileted in/on your bed? Looks like you have situation on your hands if it's not medical. Time to learn about leadership qualities.

I have a 6 month old puppy in my care, he mastered Heel in 2 days with clicker training and I'm a Virgin to clicker training thanks to PAX who gave me the heads up on how to do it. We've used clicker training with this puppy for other commands as well and I'm really enjoying it. There are many different methods to teaching heel and I'm sure others will pop in and let you know what works for them. I would suggest that you go back to training in your backyard until your dog understands your cues. I would also suggest that you read more into Leadership techniques and practice programs such as NILIF and TOT. Getting him into obedience class is a great way to get a start on items you're struggling on if you haven't been there before and some new smells and interactions for your pooch. It will also teach you about how to handle your dog when you are training ;)

I have 2 of her books here I purchased today for a bit of a gander, will get back to ya.

If you're already yelping, perhaps your tone of voice isn't quite right, do you yelp just the way you would if you were in pain?

Thanks Can you point me in the direction of information relating to that as I can't seem to find anything that says fish oil can be a bad combination?

Missed where it said the dog was on Thyroid medication? I was under the impression the dog was not on any sort of medication apart from anti-botics?

Ok, I would highly reccomend you get your dog off the supermarket brand food, it's junk food for dogs, filled with preservatives & artifical colourings and God knows what else. Look into a high grade Kibble such an Iams, Royal Canin, whatever is most suitable for a Westie, do you have a Breeder you can contact? Pro Plan does one for sensitive skin and tummies. Introduce the new feed over 1-2 weeks so you don't get tummy upsets. Instead of the Kibble you may like to try a raw and fresh diet of raw meat + raw meaty bones and mashed veggies. You may like to stay away from Beef and just focus on Chicken such as chicken necks, chicken wings and chicken frames as quite alot of dogs have beef allergies. Fish Oil dosage that we use is 1 capsule per 10 kg's of body weight. We buy the Thompson brand that already has the Vit E included. If you can't get the one with Vit E included you will need to give a Vit E tablet every 2nd day. Some people also use pro-botics and yoghurt to assist with skin complaints. We always use pro-botics when a dog is having anti-botics. I swear by by Fish Oil, it does great for my dogs coat condition as well as their inner health. I've used it on my own dogs and foster dogs. Below is a photo I have posted a few times, this is a previous foster dog, on the left is what he looked like on day 1 and on the right is what he looked like on day 31, this was done through the use of Fish Oil capsuals, Vit E capsuals, Vit E Cream morning and evening & a raw diet.

We feed 50/50. One at 5:30am and one at 7:30pm which is an hour after the evening walk. Puppy only gets 120 grams for each meal which seems so tiny considering we're used to Dane sized meals! Mind you they can have as much mashed veggies as they like.

Artifical colours and preservatives would be the demon in this case I would say.

eeeek @ $600.00 For skin complaints I would reccomend fish oil and Vit E capsuls and then Vit E to the actual skin. Hopefully a Westie person can pop on here and let you know if Westies are infact prone to certain skin complaints and what to do about that. Are you sure she doesn't have any allergies?

Dogs are dogs and not human, eating poo is normal for them. Some dogs do eat poo and others don't. You'll learn to live with it. Now, you just have to train your dog to eat its' own poo so you don't have to clean the yard! Eating poo is part of an age old instinct, it's not about puppies coming from petshops and puppy farms.