quangle

Thanks.

She does have a release.

So to clarify, do I click/treat when she lies on the mat and then click again when she responds to the release cue, or do I say 'go to your mat' and not click at all until I release her?

Secondly, given that she has thoroughly learnt that she can get off the mat at anytime, is it going to be much harder to proof the staying?

And thirdly, hubby uses the 'go to your mat' command when he wants her to get off the carpet (her mat is on the floorboards, she is not supposed to lie on the rug). It would make more sense to me to use an 'off the rug' type of command, as we don't necessarily need her to go to her mat, just to not lie on the rug. Is this sensible and do I teach this by putting her on the rug and sending her off?

Thanks again. Starting work on it tomorrow!

Hi everyone, I am after some advice.

I have a 16 month old springer spaniel. We started off well on the training, but things have slipped a little. I also have a husband who is not quite on the same wave length as me in regards to training and doesn't always understand how the dog thinks (ie. he tells her off AFTER she has done something and doesn't understand that that she doesn't know what she is in trouble for)

Anyway, she has been trained to go to her mat on command, and she does this well. However, I want the 'go to your mat' command to mean, go to it and stay there until you are told you can get off. At the moment, she goes to it fine and lies down, but knows she can just get up and leave at any time.

Now that we already have this pattern in place, how do I go about teaching her to stay there until I say she can get off?

I am using a clicker and I have been following the training techniques from the Kikopup techniques on youtube which has been working really well, but I just don't know how to 'undo' or change something that she has already learnt.

Any tips would be great. Thanks

Ok thanks.

I have just been madly reading all over the internet. I am thinking I should:

1) get a coat king. From what I have read, there seems to be disagreement on whether the coat king cuts or strips. I think I could safely use one on her legs, tummy, throat etc to keep the length down without having to resort to actually clippers (while still trimming her feet with scissors)

and then also:

2) get the pumice thing to use all over her which will remove the old coat which is probably what is shedding all over my floors and which seems to be fairly easy to use.

Does this sound like a sensible course of action?

Any my (hopefully) last question - which blade for the coat king? The 20 seems to be the recommended size for ESS, but that also seems to recommended for finishing (not sure what finishing is). I just want to remove the excess undercoat and a smaller numbered blade seems to be recommended for that. Confused.

thanks. That was what I wasn't quite able to articulate, that the coat might grow back different after clipping.

I just did a google on coat king and lo and behold the picture on the home page is of a springer!

I have noticed a LOT of hair in the house just lately and I suspect this might be that old dead hair/undercoat dropping out?

Can anyone give me any hints on stripping and/or using this coat king? I did actually pull the hair out from the top of her head the first time it happened but I don't much fancy doing that over her whole body.

Thanks again

Hi,

I have a springer spaniel and her coat is getting quite long and scruffy. On the top of her head and her back she has lighter coloured hair that sticks up a bit like a mohawk. I have been trimming her feet as they are so fluffy underneath that she can't stand still on our tiled floor, and also it helps with burrs and things getting stuck in them, not to mention how wet and muddy they get!

I also trim her ears regularly but I would like to also start keeping the feathers on her legs a bit neater and perhaps a bit of an all over clip.

Googling has not really revealed the information I am looking for. Can I just buy a decent set of clippers and basically give her a trim all over, just to keep the hair a bit shorter? Or is this a bad idea? I am worried that there may be some issue with the hair growing back different or something. Should I not be using clippers at all, but doing it somehow with scissors?

Has anyone any advice.

Thanks

I have a springer spaniel and I am wondering if anyone can recommend any particular brand of clippers for me to purchase?

I see this site http://www.dogclipperspro.com.au/ has what looks like some good specials at the moment, but I have no idea what to look for in a set of clippers. Can anyone suggest a good brand, or at least advise me on what are good features in a set.

Thanks

Hi,

I have an 8 month old pup. She received the C4 vaccination before we got her and is not due for her booster until May next year. I now need to board her for a week. Will this be enough, or does she need the C5? And if so, is there some way of 'upgrading' her vaccination?

Also, is it ok to vaccinate while she is in season, as she is at the moment (hoping to help an inverted vulva) and there is 3 weeks before she needs to go to the kennel.

Thanks

She is a mostly indoor dog (Springer Spaniel by the way) so I guess she will need to be a 100% indoor dog for a bit. I am a bit worried about the mess though. Does the discharge get worse? I am already getting used to watching where I walk. Thank goodness we have mostly tiles and floor boards.

Hi everyone,

We have taken the advice on here and decided to let our pup have a season to see it it helps with her inverted vulva.

Well, she is 8 1/2 months and it looks like it is time.

There is a bit of bloody discharge, I have had to wipe drops off the floor a few times today.

Does anyone have any tips to help get us through the next couple of weeks?

Thanks

Hi everyone

I am after some advice on choosing verbal cues to use for training my pup. I realise that sounds a bit silly as obviously any word will do, but I want to use good, clear descriptive words that I will easily remember when we have built up to lots of them.

What I am thinking of is when we do things like touch with one paw or the other. I can use 'paw' for one paw, but what word do you use when you want them to use the other paw?

And 'side' when I want her to come and stand by my left side, but what word to stand on my right side?

And what about things like weaving through my legs or pivoting around her front paws?

Are there fairly standard words that get used or is everyone totally individual?

I have watched a lot of Kikopup's youtube training videos and find they are great and they are working really well for us, but she talks about adding the cue, but you can rarely here what her cue is.

There just seem to be so many things that can be done in more than one direction or with more than one part of the body and I am running out of ideas.

Can anyone share the words they use for these sorts of things?

Much appreciated.

Mel

Hi again everyone,

THis must be my day for questions, I have another one.

Our girl's coat has gone all dull on her ears and the top of her head, which is kind of tufty looking. The rest of her body is shiny and healthy looking. She is 6 months old. Do pups have an adult coat that comes through and would this be what is happening? She looks really scruffy, when a few weeks ago she was shiny and gorgeous.

Any ideas.

and here is another picture, too big for the other post.

See I'm looking at that photo of Electra and if you took a pic like that from the rear of my dog, you can't see her vulva at all, it is under her pointing down at the ground, not pointing towards the back like that.

Honestly, I never though I never realised dog ownership would entail having a discussion like this

Thanks for the replies.

I am attaching a couple of photos (I hope) that show what she looks like. One of the weirder things I have done recently

When she was at the vet, he kind of grabbed her skin under her tail and lifted it up, so that the vulva kind of tilted towards the back (it is currently low down more underneath her than on her bottom) and said that was how it should be, which kind of left me wondering if the problem was more a case of it being tilted the wrong way, rather than it being an innie. Clearly another trip to the vet is in order, but does anyone have an opinion based on this...

I have a 6 month old springer spaniel pup and the vet has told me she has an inverted vulva. He didn't say anything more at the time, but having done some googling I have come up with the information that letting her have a season may fix the problem, thus alleviating a potential lifetime of UTI's?

I am very nervous about letting her have a season though. There a is an un-neutered male dog only 3 doors down from us who occasionally comes wandering through our yard. I cannot imagine how difficult it would be to keep our poor pup basically indoors and constantly monitored for maybe a whole month? Adding to the problem, I have small children who while generally responsible could not be wholly relied upon to not let the dog out by mistake, or just leave a door unlatched etc. I foresee the whole thing being a nightmare, but on the other hand if it would fix the problem it is probably worth while.

Can anyone give me any information on this condition, what is the likelihood of a season fixing the problem, how difficult is it to get a pup through her first heat. She is 6 months old and hasn't had any urinary problems yet, does this make any difference or is it to early to tell if problems will develop later on.

Thanks in advance

might she be offering the drop as a behaviour because it has been highly rewarded in the past? ... it could be a displacement behaviour - she wants to please you but doesn't know how.

Ahh yes, I think this is what it is!!

I knew I should have posted in here ages ago. You guys are so smart. Also the stuff about extended touches, that sounds like what I should do. And of course, proofing her existing behaviours.

Thank you so much, I will see how I go. I do think I need to make it more fun for her, she is very eager to please and quick to learn when she understands what I want, so maybe I am pushing her a bit too hard.

I guess it is easy to move too fast when they seem to pick it up so quick but I need to make sure the knowledge she has is more solid.

You guys are great. I'm sure I will be back with more questions.

Thank you

thanks.

But what is a step I could add? She can 'touch' the door, but then I want her to touch it just a bit harder - enough to give a little push - I would reward for just a fraction of movement.

I have tried on several doors. On my most lightweight door, she can push it closed, but I don't think realises that this is the aim of the game, it just happens because the door is so easy to move. Ask her to do it on a stiffer door and she just gives up when the 'touch' doesn't get a click.

Hi everyone,

I am pretty new here and new to dog ownership as well. I have a 6 month old springer spaniel. She is gorgeous and I think she is a pretty quick learner, but the last week or so she has taken to lying down all the time in training sessions and just ignoring me.

In particular whenever I ask her to sit she also always lies down straight afterwards and then is in no hurry to get up. It would be funny if it wasn't so frustrating.

So far she has learnt to sit, drop, stay, go to her mat, go to her crate, spin in both directions, high five, walk backwards, target a stick with her nose and we are working on pivoting around me and closing doors. I am using clicker training (most of my learning has been done by watching Kikopup on youtube) but I have noticed she seems to get discouraged easily, for eg. with the door closing trick, she very quickly got the idea of touching the door with her nose, but when I withold the click to encourage a bit of a 'push' on the door, she quickly gives up - and that is when she will just lie down and ignore me. So she is very quick to catch on to the initial idea, but when I raise the criteria, she doesn't get it.

My first thought is that she is bored? I think I also need to spend some more time on teaching her to focus on me as we kind of missed this step and I think it is biting me on the bum now.

Does anyone have any suggestions how we might get through this stage? Any suggestions would be great, as I said I am new to this so we are learning together.

Thanks

Hi everyone,

I have a 5 month old springer spaniel puppy. I am just shopping for food online and thought I would try and buy wormers at the same time, but all the different types have me confused. Up until now I have given her a drontal tablet from the vet and she has had guardian chews for heartworm that we were given at puppy school.

If I was to use a Drontal allwormer chewable with Valuhheart for heartworm, would that cover everything I need?

Some of the heartworm tablets seem to cover some other worms as well. Does that mean I need to use an intestinal wormer that doesn't cover those worms, or is it ok to double dose so to speak?

I am finding this very confusing. I found this useful table, http://www.petessentials.com.au/compare_Canine_Comparison_Chart-9.html but when I work out the costs, there is a big difference in price between brands - does more expensive equal better? eg. Guardian $35.25 for 3 months, vs combination of Valuheart and Drontal at $19.54 for 3 months.

And one more question - with the all wormers that include heartworm (Interceptor and Guardian for eg) this means I am worming my dog for intestinal worms every month instead of every 3 months - is this better than using separate products and only doing intestinal worms every 3 months.

Thank you.

Thanks. Yes, she is coming from a breeder. I was assuming the information from them would mostly cover what she was eating at the moment, but I am guessing a puppy's needs change as they grow so I just want to be prepared with ideas on what I can/should be adding to her diet over the next few months.

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here though I have been lurking for quite a while.

We are bringing a 3 1/2 month old puppy into our home next week. She is currently being fed on Advance, so I will be continuing with that for a while and see how we go.

My question is, what other food should I be giving her and how much? Is she old enough to start on chicken wings/legs, or should I stick with necks for the moment? Would I give her just one a day or more?

What about all the dried things I see in the pet shops - pigs ears etc.? What are they for and how much do you give and how old does the pup have to be?

Are there any things I should make sure to avoid?

Any advice on puppy feeding would be much appreciated.

Thanks