Two Best Dogs!

I'm currently using Dog Solutions for behavioural training with T1. Very much a train the owner/s on understanding and training the dog approach. They do one on one classes and group classes, depending on what it is your friend's need. I've seen two dog households present Some other places out west if travel is a problem: Manners for Paws - Altona Pawsitively Great Pets Point Cook Dog Training

I was just reading this! It’s so neat

(Join the clippered ear side! We have burr free ears!) You could get a snood for fashionable but burr-free ear rhomping?

What a happy ending to a bumpy road

If not dodgy, poor form of the breeder to leave you in the lurch like this. I would suggest either going for a long spontaneous road trip with a friend and their car. or hiring a car for two days and driving up, getting puppy, sleep the night then drive back.

So sorry about little Dozer Cancer is a shit

Your dog is not doomed from missing out on a few development windows she is young yet and has many more developments to go through! it is very overwhelming for both you and her. Sounds like she’s right into her fear period. take it nice and slow, at her pace, to encourage curiosity and exploration. Show her the world is an okay place m. Sounds like she’s a thinker so may be lots of watching but encourage sniffing, different surfaces etc. It’s not a race and you can only measure her against herself. if you know people with well mannered and calm dogs, meeeting and hanging out with them may help. She’ll have a chance to see her new buddies are feeling okay and by extent she’s can be too. if you can grab a copy of puppy culture, it’s very helpful for building resilience. It’s geared to puppies under 12 weeks but honestly the information provided is just as helpful for older puppies and adult dogs. keep heart, she will mature up nicely in time. Don’t forget lots of fun relaxing breaks and naps for you both ps. I see she plays. Look up Amy Cook’s play way. It’s geared for using play to being sensitive and shy dogs out of their shell

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Reusable-100ML-Large-Big-Plastic-Hydroponics-Nutrient-Measuring-Syringe-xy/113806564700?hash=item1a7f665d5c:m:m28GQ4llcgqjRwMgrUzEetg I use 60ml and 100ml ones to deliver wet dog food to the dogs. use rose clippers to cut the syringe nozzle at the wider part (about halfway down) which makes wider but still allows enough length for dog mouth

In the wet food aisle of Aldi and I think it was Woolie (maybe Coles) - where they keep the pet mince - they often sell bags of small dog food. These are essentially tiny meatballs and are my basic go to. I mix kibble in with them so the kibble gets the flavour and then alternate while training

This is a facebook outbreak alert from a vet clinic They also have a short info poster on causes/contagion/symptom https://www.facebook.com/RingwoodVetHospital/photos/a.913100492214121/1259443134246520/?type=3&__tn__=H-R

Telling me the squeaker can be removed honestly makes me want it. I can remove the squeaker!!

Is she in the yard when she see's the 6am walker? Assuming you don't want to remodel your yard to remove visibility, and as she's only a temporary dog...I would personally just avoid the situation and have her sleep in the laundry or something to allow you to stick to your routine. Sounds like 6am walker is also pretty routine minded which has pros/cons for you. I don't mind barking when playing personally. Thyme likes to give me his play-by-play when he's REALLY excited. If I'm not feeling it, we will just play tug or something that keeps his mouth occupied or, as you have found, a less exciting activity. Sniffing things out maybe?

That sounds so stressful you and the dog both I wonder if something happened in the yard one day and now it's evolved into full on stress habit Seconding needing a professional behaviourist, that is very extreme! Anxious Dogs  of  Australia Support Group on facebook has a few dogs that are like that/were like that/are improving. They also have huge list of reviewed behaviourists to help you pick from, and can also ask for other local options if the ones in the list do not suit you.

Thought DOL might like something a little lighthearted. Thyme and I attended a spaniel meet up. He had a blast running about and fetching (his) ball! I really enjoyed it and I hope the next spaniel meet up also has the welshies and cockers present (maybe the field spaniels too? i just like seeing all the types in one spot. it helps me plan my future ;) ) It was only afterward that I found out two of the dogs are from the same breeder. Here is a photo I managed to get of them all lined up! Cousins! Thyme is the spottiest. (sorry it's low quality, I am not sure how else to make it fit it's in the instagram link above too, when you hit the little arrow) and here's the three again going for that ball! Sometimes I wonder what other dogs think, when they enter the park and there's a bunch of dogs all the same breed all in one corner.

Gotta put this here so nobody misses out on reading this: https://www.9news.com.au/national/animals-melbourne-news-dingo-pup-found-in-backyard-is-endangered-breed/8efb0135-6346-4758-9068-0c645613277d He's a right cute little bugger to boot.

I hope we see a photo soon, he sounds cute ;) Honestly you sound like you're doing fine in progressing through his issues and challenges, especially in only 6 months when you are so new to him There's no quick fix to behavioural challenges, just patience, progress and practice. Slow and steady foundations in helping him understand his new home and lots of rest time inbetween learning. If someone is bothering you over him not being "perfect", then they need to get with reality that the important things will always take time with good experiences paramount. There's a facebook group called Anxious Dogs of Australia Support Group that I find useful to quickly bounce ideas off when I'm in a sticky bit or just thinking of changing our approach. They have way more members than DOL with, well, the specialisation on anxious type behaviours, and thus way more variety in the list of people you can pick and choose to visit if you feel you need. Although right now you could mistake it for an enrichment group, they are very excited over the snuffle mats in Target! They are awfully cute toys for home alone time. For 3. specifically, see if you cannot buy a cheap $5 skateboard somewhere and bring it home to work on familiarising him with it. You could teach him to watch it sit stationary/watch it move/ gently roll it around in front of him. Introduce him to how they work in that nice quiet environment then slowly increase the speed/noise of it as he gets familiar. I had a similar problem with bikes so I bought one and it helped him get over it very quickly AND I gained a new hobby!

Let him out in the morning when he is quiet before he starts barking. It may be earlier than you desire, but it prevents him practicing barking and rewards him for the silent moments. Then as you get better at releasing him before he even thinks of barking and thus rewarding him for being quiet, you can start delaying it by a few more minutes every morning. Then during the day, practice play pen manners. This video explains a process you build now to save time later: (this one is about teaching dog to be quiet while another dog is being trained. But instead of training another dog, you can do bits and pieces of your morning routine and give your puppy a treat for watching quietly. clicker is optional, just give them a treat when being quiet) The rest will be time and practice you can do it!

The only side effect my vet referenced was combining it with trazadone could result in seratonin toxicity in my dog (basically an overdose). So I am not giving her the traz for events while we use the zylkene for The Big Change. I didn't ask about other medication /supplement conflicts, but if your dog is on other supplements or medication you should check in with your vet to make sure they can be combined safely. I like Perse's idea of getting a vet check to ensure everything is in order and his emerging nervousness isn't being trigger by something physical or internal. You could use it as a chance to ask about potential calming medication and if it would be worth it for you.

Thistle gets vitamin c, but it was in consultation with a vet to get the right dosage for her weight and to double check the brand we used didn't have xylitol* in it. *this will kill your dog

I am currently using adaptil spray in the home to help ease the dogs through a great unexpected change and upset...in addition to vet sourced medication (Thistle has recently started prozac long term, while they're both on Zylkene to help through the current stressful changes). I imagine it as if my dog's upsets were measured along a ruler...adaptil is a couple of centimetres off the stress scale. It helps to make things a bit easier. Zylkene is maybe about 5-10cm while Trazadone (currently not being used) would be a solid 15cm. The prozac not on long enough to measure but is intended for repairing some cracks in my poor broken ruler dog. I find anything that encourages the dogs to sniff about is a good few more cm decreased. Be it some interesting smells or a rabbit fluff trail, the sniffing activity itself calms the dogs. I spray the adaptil on their beds and their collars, and sometimes my couch.

I would like to suggest a field spaniel as well. I have a show English and he is far more active and energetic than I think even his breeder expected (amusing as his grandfather was active hunting showline). This is good for me as I bought him after failing to get a welsh springer in time so he brings me close to that combination of springer energy in a large end of medium dog with flashy looks. He will absolutely drive me nuts without regular exercise. But he’s a good dog that suits me. But he wouldn’t meet your criteria for Home life. A working cocker wouldnt quite suit your home goals either while the pet/show line cockers... I’m sure there are some that can work but it seems like it would require a lot of effort to bring those instincts to the front. Could be all the ones around me just seem a bit...calmer... due to their physical roundness. The field spaniel reads as a better fit for what you want to balance in terms of home, size, trainability and casual hunting. Plus, they are gorgeous! What a lovely shade and shape of head!

T1 would submissive nerves pee and honestly all I could do was ignore it. It did ease up over time as I got our reuniting into a more genuine excitement level without the nerves. I expect she was just still worried and uncertain about me. So she needed the time to get to know me and that I wouldn’t scold her. I do note she was found to be slightly incontinent, I think the medication for that did also help with her nervous tinkles.

I've found the Canidae brand is frequently on sale for about $100 for 20kg* at...it was either Best Friends Pet store or PetBarn. On this kibble, I've found I can actually feed my dogs less as they can gain weight quickly on it...which is downright unusual for my dogs! Previously I was feeding assorted high protein high fat diets to help keep the weight on and in excessively large meals. But on Canidar I could actually reduce the amount I gave them, making the bags last longer. I'm very pleased with that, health weight has been a challenge! And on the side once a week I pass over all the local stores to see if there's any mince meat on sale. Last week I grab 10kg for $15 because the store had ordered too much. Split them into tupperware (I ran out of tupperware haha!) and then I mix them in with the kibbles. This combined with the meats I already had is likely to last about month being mixed into kibble (noting they get lots of pure meatball training treats and dehydrated treats) Sometimes I grab Black Hawk and Science Diet mobility on a good discount too. My general aim is for 20kg bags at about $90-100, either on sale or through a voucher. * But one time it was 20kg with an extra 10kg on top for free and I died from delight at that find! $100 for 30kg!!! Wow!

I'm glad they found a foster carer family for him I often think when Thistle passes... a second challenging older dog in her honor. Probably as a foster dog in the slippery slope to foster fail

I’ll have to remember to shoot you a message next time I’m looking for more pet bunnies!