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Yes, I've met and heard of quite a few pups that have been quite happy to toilet where they sleep, and even happy to sleep in the mess again afterwards - yuck! I've been told that in most cases, this kind of thing is caused by the pup not being kept in a clean environment when it is very young, so that it never actually has a chance to learn to keep itself clean. Hopefully your pup isn't one of those, Meriel! It's a common thing to see in petshop puppies unfortunately, they can take a long time to toilet train.

If you feel you have got a hostile response that is because that is the way you have decided to take it. Also when you say things such as you wouldn't use a prong because it is sharp and hurts the dog. What gave you the impression that the prongs are sharp? Do you think that the prongs penetrate the dogs skin and if they pull to hard they may peirce the skin? When starting a dog on an e-collar you have to test it to find the dogs working level, that split second where it shows some sort of response that may be so subtle that you may even notice it. Now take that collar off the dog and put it on yourself and it's surprising to people who have never tried them to realise that they A) don't even feel the stim. or B) It kinda tickles....so why is it that you think e-collars have to put the dog in pain? I personaly think it's more appropriate to not make comments that pretty much call people cruel unless you've first hand experience. I personaly respect anyone's opinion that doesn't agree with mine if they have tried it themselves under proffessional guidence. Postive training is great and is well suitable to some dogs. Actually there isn't such thing as 100% positive training, as just witholding the praise is negative. I don't think any well respected trainer would tell you 100% positive training is the only method suitable for all dogs.

Why do you think crating is cruel? You haven't said it's cruel straight out but it's obvious by what you say. Dogs have toileting schedules if you feed them to schedule, keep a diary so you know what your dogs schedule is. You shouldn't let a dog out of its crate whilst it is crying/barking etc, you're simply training it that you'll come running when it makes a sound. You also need to get a special spray from the pet store that eliminates that smell. I'm toilet training a puppy at the moment and we have no smells here. By allowing the smell to stay you're saying to your dog.....go to the toilet where the smell is. If you're not committed to watching the puppy ALL of the time then maybe a puppy wasn't the right choice for you. You either watch the puppy ALL of the time or you get a crate and crate train the puppy.....get a book on crate training, you can find them at amazon or simply google crate training to get some info.

If she's having an accident and you didn't see her, you're letting her down, you need to watch her ALL the time when she's inside. Toilet training isn't a science and can be done fast. You're making the process take forever because you're not watching her enough to allow her to learn the rules. You can't do anything if you didn't see the dog do it. Why are you leaving a dog that is not toilet trained in the house by itself?

Some dogs 'suck' all their lives, some grow out of it. Think of it like a child sucking their thumb or having a security blanket.

If you're letting the dog in when it cries you've just given into the dog an taught the dog when it does that you come and let it in. Can the dog not sleep in the house?

Kylie, Im affraid your comments are greatly uneducated. Have you used an e-collar yourself? Have you tested one on yourself? Have you tried a prong collar? Have you tested one on yourself?

Some dogs will toilet where they eat and sleep, it's highly dependent on the dog and its' background. Instinct tells them not to of course but there are always those who go against the grain.

I removed desexing stitches this week for the first time, no worries.

There are some people with small dogs who litter train. I'd guess you could use things like a spray you can buy from the petstore that provides the dog with a scent that you spray where you want them to pee. Just like teaching a dog to toilet outside you would use the same training for the litter box. You could use more conventional methods such as toilet training pads or the actual inside systems designed for apartment dwellers, expensive though. Also at her age she may not have full control of her bladder and bowl movements. Your husband is wrong, she won't go in the litter tray by herself, it's not natural, you have to train it and even then she may not accept it.

Sounds pretty normal to me. Puppies need to know how to act. As long as there are no injuries I don't see an issue.

why would you want to put the dog in there during the day? You're going to end up with an unbalanced troubled dog if you just leave them in the laundary. Have you heard of a crate or use your backyard.

Doing Drive work was the only way I could get Leila to do it, although she gets confused sometimes so I need to improve myself. I'm not sure if this is the right way to correct it, but when she moves I say AH UH and move towards her and try again. We do it in baby steps in regards to distance. Can your pooch drop from a distance? Just not on recall?

If stopping fostering is what you have to do to balance out the energy of your dogs then it seems pretty straight forward?

That's what you get for leaving things in a dogs reach :p

I think it's rather mean to allow a dog all the comforts of home and then just chuck it outside. Why was he chucked outside? Because you were inconsistent owners and he got bad habits? You can turn this around with some education. What was the reason this dog was brought to your home? As a companion? If it were me, I'd get rid of the partner.

That don't seem to be well matched dogs in terms of energy levels. The older dog will repremand annoying behaviours from this younger dog and it will continue until the younger dog learns some manners.

LOL is this thread still going on!

Oh, I'm not looking for myself, I have a normal prong and am more than happy with it. My girl (dane) just goes on a martingale as it is. Just interested in peoples thoughts on a plastic prong collar.

I brought a Triple Crown Clicker today and in the information pack there was a picture of a Triple Crown collar that looked very much like a Prong Collar Click here to read info and see video. What are your thoughts?

I use a spray called Nilodol available from the supermarket. One spray per room is all that is neccessary. Gets rif of 'any' smell! The No Vac stuff was ok, but wasn't lasting in my opinion.

Asking your Breeder is always a good place to start, they know their dogs best

I highly reccomend Fish Oil with Vit E included (Thompsons brand). In addition Vit Cream to the actual coat. This is Xander a previous foster Dane, the before and after pictures showed how the above helped him achieve this in 1 month. I've never had a worry with giving the capsuals, they love them! We work on the ratio of 1 tab per 10 kg's of body weight. You need to get the Fishoil with the Vit E already included or you'll have to give 1 x Vit E tab every 2nd day.

I think it's important to understand that Leadership & Respect are not the same. Training does help a puppy become a more behaved & settled pooch, however there is another program called NILIF which means Nothing in Life is free. Have you heard of this program before? http://www.k9force.net/index.html?row2col2=nilif.html It does sound like your girl is getting rather cheeky on it. You say you're training in drive, did a trainer teach you how to do this? You may be missing some steps: http://www.k9force.net/index.html?row2col2=tid.html Here is another program that works well: http://www.k9force.net/index.html?row2col2=tot.html

As for sniffing on walks, it's up to you and what you want out of your dog. I give my kids a release command if they're on lead to sniff and wee etc, they don't need to sniff at everything. Once we get to the park they're off lead but always come back to check in with us. If you really want to get leadership from a dog you need to follow NILIF with 100% consistency and then step it up when they've got the basics down pat and they start to offer the behviour you want all of the time (i.e. sitting for pats etc, step it up to a drop for pats etc). We certainly don't run an army type of situation here, dogs are allowed on furniture and so forth and get plenty of attention but it's on our terms not theirs.