Cosmolo

You need to be aware that dogs have a critical period between 6- 16 weeks of age- there is a great thread that may give you some insight into critical period issues in the training section. It is up to you to take both sides of the arguement and choose a happy medium that you are happy with and you feel keeps your pup safe- not just in terms of parvo virus. If you decide not to take your pup out- you will need to do a number of other things inside the home to try and have a well balanced confident dog. If it was my dog, i would be socialising as much as possible without going to areas like off lead dog parks or letting my pup near faecal matter.

Why not talk to your puppy class instrutor- they could give you some tips or exercises that will help you within the classes?

Maybe pm Erny- she has used Kevin Kelly before

I have used tranquil on horses with reasonable results but not on dogs. Try looking at petark CALM as well- a new product which is all natural and may help in 'taking the edge off' the dog so that learning can occur more easily. www.petark.com.au i think

I would give him a low level correction that serves only to disrupt him from the behaviour. While i think you have to be extremely careful giving corrections for toilet training, i do think that a pup of his age can take a well timed low intensity correction to show him that the behaviour is unwanted, then take him straight outside. Otherwise, it doesn't matter to him whether he toilets inside or out and he's obviously chosen which spot he prefers.

Have you conditioned the clicker as a seperate exercise first? without any commands?

You will get alot more out of a puppy school if your pup is a little more settled- especially after a flight. As for missing the first lesson- it depends on what the instructor covers- i tend to cover some really imprtant things first week and wouldn't want a client to miss it without catching up in some way before the second session

If you give us an idea of whereabouts in VIC you are, i'm sure someone can recommend a trainer/ puppy school/ obedience school in your area.

If you have booked in with a trainer for a puppy school, why not see whether they can help you over the phone with any pressing questions in the meantime?

Agree with what LM said- why can't the dog sleep inside? What about a crate inside? They need to be sure as to why the dog is barking before they use any kind of collar because as LM suggested, if it is anxiety related and thats all they do- they will make their problem worse.

I have worked with boarding and training dogs and i wouldn't advise sending a dog in with these kind of issues at such a young age. It can be very successful but the main principle in play is flooding and you definitely don't want incomplete flooding. (flooding is putting a dog in a situation they are uncomfortable with until they get over the issue- incomplete flooding would be removing the dog while they are still stressed or fearful) I would instead recommend setting up controlled interactions with dogs and/ or people, keeping in mind that she doesn't have to be all over everyone she sees, just accepting of their presence. If your current obedience club is not in a position to do this with some well behaved and very obedient dogs, you might want to look at a private session with a good trainer who has their own dogs to use. I do this regularly with my dogs and clients dogs- make sure if you do go down this road that the instructors dog is actually well behaved and under control- it should not be a matter of getting another dog to jump all over yours- quite the opposite in fact!

Congratulations on your new babies. Are you taking them to obedience classes? At that age, i would be looking to try and do some training and socialisation with them, even if its one on one so its not too stressful for everyone. In the meantime, i wouldn't pick him up- have you tried encouraging him along with something he really likes? What would he do if the other pup kept walking without him?

While i don't make a habit of waking dogs from sleep, i do think its important to teach a dog (and a person) how to wake a sleeping dog. I second everything that has been said regarding leadership of course but i can wake any of my dogs from sleep without a problem and with a 5 month old pup, you can carefully teach them the same. The OP also mentions that sometimes the dog is not asleep- going to sleep or just waking up, so we are not just talking about the element of surprise here. What training are you doing with your pup Sonny?

The only thing i can say is that you really should consult with a behaviourist as its something that is unlikely to go away on its own- and i hesitate to give onlne information on this sort of topic as its very difficult without seeing whats going on. Its important that it is determined why the dog is acting this way so that an appropriate solution can be found.

Jensta, usually its more important to stimulate puppies mentally rather than physically- especially with the breed you have. By running them, you make them fitter so they can run for longer (I know, i have 3) Are you doing any training with them? As far as them chewing everything, i differ from some others in that i would set the puppies up (seperately if possible) and show them that common things like books, shoes etc are not for them to touch. You need to be prepared to do this and administer an appropriate correction the moment the dog goes to pick up the undersirable object. ( i don't know the dogs so don't know what an appropriate correction may be, it may be as little as a loud disruptive noise) Then, at least 30 seconds later give them a toy to chew on. Its one thing to puppy proof a home, but you also need to make sure the pups understand that not every single thing is theirs as it is inevitable that something will be left lying around at some point.

Where do you think you might go for puppy school? (if you don't mind me asking) Some puppy schools have different requirements but most only require the first vaccination as others have said

LP- Thought that might spark your curiosity! We worked for ADT and WPK when you did the course. We remember spunky Leo too. Maybe the photos on our website would jog your memory!

Khan28- from what you have said, i wouldn't use an alpha roll for that particular problem (and generally think there are better ways of handling most other situations) but please don't think that you can't change your dogs behaviour as with the right training and techniques, you likely could, the age is no obstacle. I wouldn't try and tackle a problem like that on line (because i can't see what the dog is doing) so forgive me for not being more specific.

Can't say i have and word of mouth is a good way to go when selecting a club/ trainer. I would look for a club that is capable of showing a variety of techniques to you depending on the dog- go down to a few and have a look if your able to. The other thing is that some obedience clubs might be great at some things and not at others- all have strengths and weaknesses. Its okay to go to one place for a puppy pre school and then go to a club a little later if you think that might be a good option. Have a look at some websites, call some different people and ask lots of questions- write it all down, compare at the end of the day and see what you think would be best for you

We have 4 dogs at the moment Their ages are 7 1/2yrs, 8yrs, 2yrs and 12months (Jess, Otto, Cosmo and Georgie) The two older dogs don't trial but we maintain a high level of obedience with them as we use them with clients dogs. The 2 year old will be a great obedience and agility dog and gets trained at least every second day. She has won one trial but then had a break due to a lack of time. (LP- you have met all of these dogs too) The 12 month old is the latest addition and has some serious issues with men and loud noises so gets trained daily most of the time. She will never trial in obedience but we hope to trial her in agility. She is a Dane x mastiff x staffy and the other 3 are all working dog mixes (heeler, border and kelpie) The 2 year old is a super dog- always has been, so she is quite easy to work with- we do alot of prey/ play drive work during her training. Her only problem at the moment is keeping her under wraps while running an agility course but we'll work on that alot this year. Georgie Is much more difficult because of her issues but she is getting better and should be great in the long run as she is so sensitive and enjoys her work when she understands whats required. She is the much more food motivated than Cosmo so we'll use that alot with her. It is hard to train all of them when i'm disorganised but easy when i make them a priority and 'book them in' for training. Sometimes i train everyone elses dogs and then am not in the right frame of mind to train my own. But they all get individual time with us and we'll be much more organised this year!

It does sound like this puppy needs to learn that its okay to be alone and perhaps some further leadership skills on your part. We consult in your area so please have a look at the website below or follow other recomendations if you would like to solve the problem. Anxiety rarely gets better on its own.

What kind of training has Boris had so far?

Anyone?!

Sorry Pippi- thats what i meant to say, just a little dyslexic! For those of you who have replied that you would teach 2o2o, what do you do or suggest others do when a dog who has been taught the exercise and you believe understands it fully misses its contacts? I really want to know whether you continue the course, repeat the whole or part of the obstacle, any kind of no reward marker or verbal correction OR other type of correction??

Some interesting points and i realise it wouldn't be right for alot of dogs. 3 out of 4 of my dogs wouldn't understand/ make the connection which would make the technique a waste of time and potentially confusing to the dog. However, the other dog (who seems to be a cut above the rest in alot of respects) would understand it quite clearly with only one or two repetitions. I do take your point though about the dog understanding its job and perhaps i have been a little lax with my criteria (which needs to be addressed before doing the above) It has been very difficult as the instructors where i was training didn't know what to do with my dog as she was much quicker than they were used to and initially the criteria was all over the place- for instance if she touched higher up they would just be happy that she had touched (with the new rules making the dog walk all one colour).