rosebud

Scottie: I'm sure if you buy human grade meat this shouldn't be a problem - most people here just get carcasses from their local butcher. My dog loves it when I freeze some raw chicken wings/necks in a plastic container with water - it's a lifesaver in summer cos it's just like an iceblock with goodies inside of them.

Eh, I think Jaybee just meant that there are cheaper products that do the same thing.

Hi Kelpie-i, Yes, I did panic badly, thank you for noticing Was the stutter really that bad? Honestly speaking, I think I was just shocked that my baby turned out to be a crass minded, back talking little punk with absolutely no manners. I felt like a bad mother for not teaching him any - doesn't help that I can become absolutely anal about doing it 'perfect'. (I was also shocked that I didn't know everything there was to know about bringing up a puppy ) But yeah, different person, different attitude - helps that most people were telling me I was doing OK - not sure about that, but nice to hear anyway Love yez *sighs*

Jbbb (that just rolls off the tongue.. very nice): No, he was mounting in preschool as well - wish it was as simple as the rotty going into season. I've gone away for the past few days and began the new routine - and there's already been an improvement in his settling/calming down skills (you guys ROCK) I especially like the lead thing throughout the house - improved his leash skills by a ton (admittedly it's not like we have a lot of distractions but I'm pretty excited ) He's also going to be desexed; have already made the appointment for next week so it's going to be bye bye bollocks soon. I've read up the pros and cons of desexing early - talked to my vet, the women who run the pound where I volunteer and read research papers - and am quite confident that it will be fine. Only opposition I really had were from my parents who are extremely old school when it comes to dogs. Comments from "Oh my goodness, why would you want to do such a thing to him?" to "He is going to turn out into a wimp... remember your last dog..?" and from my mum: "Don't you feel kinda bad for doing this to him? I cried when Obelix was castrated, I felt so awful." (Obelix was a great dane we had when I was a baby.) But I'm working on educating them, in a gentle way - "Do you REALLY want him to pee on the couch to mark his territory" etc or "Think of all of the unwanted dogs out there!" I think it's kinda embarrassing that my parents are like this..not even sure if I want to mention it on a public forum especially with the 'Rescue' thread right next door.. *cringes* So anyway, I'm feeling more confident about the dog-dog socialisation thing. I feel like I've got a lot more control over him, and the problem is just with his mounting and trying to get away with everything with other dogs. Other than that, he is a happy chap who loves new faces, furry or otherwise with a bit of a rebellious streak in him. (LOL how brave do I sound now? Haven't even met another dog yet, but here I am talking it up ) Have a great weekend everyone!!

Hi Kelpie-i, Yeah, tell me about it - I came in here a nervous wreck but after just one day and after the responses I got... I feel so grateful, but I don't know how to express it properly without sounding like a prat Just the encouragement and the fact that people know how to go about stopping the behaviour is a good feeling - it is due to inexperience with dogs, but I've never ever seen such a young puppy backchat a larger dog like that before. I'm around the eastern suburbs - Balwyn side. The course itself runs for 4 weeks. These are the advice people have given so far and are being implemented: NILIF practicing 'settle down' a few times a day no playing inside the house no sleeping on beds/couches I think his self-control is an issue (or thinking he can do whatever he wants, when he wants) - not sure if it will help but I've decided to restrict him around the house as well so I'm putting him on lead every time I go from room to room. I don't have an opportunity to meet any dogs/pups outside of preschool ATM so I can't work on his dog/dog skills yet. When he does, there will be no free play at all, and he will be told off if he tries to mount, and isolated for a while if he continues. Hopefully I haven't left out anything, if so please feel free to tell me.

Oh, Poodlefan, you gave me the best laugh of the day: :D :p Well Im in the throes (sp) of my own adolescence, so our hormonal imbalances should even out.

Peibe LOL THANK GOD HE'S NORMAL!! The thought 'Oh Lordy, I think he has issues' did bounce around once, twice.. many times.. in my mind - He is my first puppy, and compared to other puppies in the class he was a real monster. I know being boisterous and wanting to play is normal, but I seriously think the excessive humping is abnormal. Now if that isn't an incentive to move up I don't know what is!!!! Thank you for your very kind offer. I can't wait for the moment when he realises that he's not 'top dog' anymore - I think the look on his face will be priceless - a real photo moment

The trainer is only a few years older than me; I think that my dog must have been one of the more hypo/boisterous ones she has come across - she dismissed it as merely 'puppy behaviour'. It was the first time she had met him so I think she was just sussing him out. His humping hadn't really come out then - he did definitely try it but I pulled him off. The problem that he was always wanting to play nonstop. It was only when he was with my aunt's dogs that I let him free play - and he was constantly humping the two of them - I failed in that regard to pull him off, or even to correct him properly. I halfheartedly scolded him once or twice because I was waiting for the rotty to tell him off. Now I know differently.. Little Engelbert Humperdick doesn't know boundaries, plays too aggressively for my liking and won't even be able to get off the ground if he even TRIES to get jiggy with his next play mate. Mwahhahaha. And I'm really REALLY dreading next week's preschool. I'm going to feed him less that day and really tire him out before going - forewarned is forearmed with a Kong, some treats and a better attitude on my part to stop him. I've heard really good things about ADT here in Melbourne, I might give them a call. Kai gets his last shots soon - I'll be taking him out then. He definitely needs more socialisation with other dogs. Thanks so much for the help and support. Am feeling the love :D

Hi PF Yup, rules were all explained.. main reason why I was so embarrassed.. he was so disruptive that I felt like just taking him out of there - just kept squirming and trying to get to the other pups and distracting them. I got offended at the people who were shooting me looks and talking behind their hands because I was going my best - had gone off into a corner, was holding him on my lap and praising him when he was quiet - and he did settle down towards the middle of the lesson. It was an irrational response on my part, but I was so incredibly frustrated that I lost it. I'm not the type to be nasty, I don't believe that the puppy preschool should revolve around my dog either. This is why I'm here - I know that I've missed out on doing something with him - I didn't know why he behaved that way. He was introduced to my neighbour's dogs when younger, did fine, and then all of the sudden he goes to puppy preschool and I see him act so so badly. I was appalled at myself for not realising it could happen, or done things with him to stop that behaviour. I feel so terrible :D Only ever had one dog before, he came from the pound and was the sweetest, most loving sook in the world. The groundwork or so to speak had already been done with him, I got this pup wanting to do the right thing to find that I've done the opposite. Absolutely agree 100% - but I didn't know how to do it - ie how to stop it. I like Haven's method and will try it - will a water pistol also work? He hates water.

Thanks all for the replies - helped me take a good long look at what I was doing - Haven, I feel really guilty and petty for using my dog to get my point across... it was small minded of me and I promise that no matter how irritated I am in the future I will just let my fists do the talking instead. (Joke, joke..) No, I truly feel BAD :D I didn't even think about the consequences it might have on Kai when I did it, I was so intent on some form of revenge.. I'll be using the links you gave me to teach him to settle Helen - and as for the NILIF method that was suggested, we're already doing that - just didn't know it was called NILIF - it was more 'If You Make Me Happy I Will Make You Happy' in our household. The sitting/dropping before food, going on bed, going outside to potty, going outside for a walk is fine - I need to finetune though with the sit in the car and wait. Oh, and the playing inside the house. Sometimes my sisters and I will run around inside the house with him, throw balls etc - didn't realise the side effects of this was that he didn't learn self-control. Oh, and Haven, what do I do if my dog starts to hump other dogs in puppy preschool? I can't put him in any time out areas - should I just hold him in my lap?

Hi Haven You're right.. I know it was a normal exuberant 'i want to play play play PLAY NOW!' puppy thing, but because I've spent such so much time training him and having him generally responsive I got waaay too sensitive when he was the only one acting up in his class. Looking back.. maybe I got a bit too paranoid LOL and I did get a bit fed up towards the end - you can only be extremely embarrassed for so long - then you get irritated at people. One of the SWFs started acting up - barking like crazy, howling, digging ruts into the concrete floor trying to get to another SWF - so when it started doing that to my pup, I gasped and made a big show like I was concerned for his life - complete with scooping him up hastily in my arms, retreating quickly and looking like I was seriously concerned that my puppy was going to get eaten alive by her SWF(although he outweighed this SWF by 20 kilos or more (okay.. more like only 6 kilos) and could probably splat it if he sat on it). Thanks for the NIFIL tip - so much for book learning - I seriously haven't heard of that term before.

LOL Hey Cass (gorgeous bernese in your avatar btw) We haven't actually got a proper digital camera yet - even in this day and age - even being a 'young-un' :D (am blushing a lot tonight.. thought I was all blushed out and here comes a new one ) I WILL try to borrow one from a friend though, and see what I can do. Nope, he hasn't been socialised with older dogs; we've recently moved from Adelaide to Melb, so I don't know a lot of people with adult dogs (Read: I don't know ANYONE with a trustworthy adult dog - but I'm almost desperate enough to troll the parks asking around, lol.) I didn't want to bring him around dogs I didn't know because he hasn't had his 3rd vacc yet. And my neighbours' dogs can't help in this case which is a shame.. one is a 13 yo maltese, the other is a very very shy greyhound x.

Hi everyone (and sorry about the long post!) I'm quite new here because I'm one of 'those types' who are a bit shy in posting and prefer to sit back and read what other people say But after attending tonight's first ever puppy preschool class I know when I'm out of my league and need advice that doesn't come out of a book (my first reference point until now). Basically, I've noticed some things about my pup that I want to stop. (Stop, as in STOP RIGHT THERE YOU LITTLE SQUEAKER OR MUMMY IS GOING TO PUT A WATER PISTOL TO YOUR HEAD AND THEN YOU ARE GOING TO GET IT!!!!! ) :p :shakehead: *coughs* ;) So, anyway, I was hoping that I could have some help (apart from intense therapy sessions) in the form of advice, pointing out what I'm doing wrong and what I can do better. Here is the background: I have a x-breed mutt that came from my friend; to cut a long story short it was an accidental breeding and she doesn't know what the father is. The mother however is a pure bred shar-pei. My pup has been with me and my family ever since he was 7 weeks, and I purposely picked him because he was quite laid back and submissive in his litter. He is now 16 weeks old. I'm on my uni hols and only work a few hours a week; I've been able to spend a LOT of time with him, training, playing, socialising (we've been to schools, shopping malls, local bus depot, neighbour's dogs and so on) He sleeps on my bed, is housetrained, and has the basic commands down pat (ie sit and look at food until 'OK', 'leave it' etc) He isn't mouthy either, not even with my two young sisters, even though he is starting to teethe. Suffice to say, before tonight we all thought he was quite the little angel ;) ANYWAY, the first puppy preschool session... You know how in every obedience class there is that one dog that acts like a real prat; the dog who mucks up and all around behaves like an ass apart from the braying? Well, that was my 'angel' tonight. He wouldn't settle, even when other ones were being quiet and sitting, he wouldn't even play with the kong that trainer handed out to everyone - I ended up holding his squirmy body on my lap almost the entire session - because all he wanted to do was play. When he did get some play time, it was mostly spent on the other dogs' backs, humping his little heart out :D (Let's cut another long story short and say that I got quite a few evil eyes and some whispered comments from the mothers of the SWFs in our class) I didn't think too much of it because I've been told humping is normal esp in dominant dogs rah rah rah, but when he was playing with my aunt's two dogs later this very same night, he tried to do the same thing to them too - even though one is a 9 month old rotty female who didn't take it very well. She snapped at him - just telling him off - and my mouthy little bugger snapped back at her - jumping up in her face and snapping his jaws. When he played too rough with the other dog (in between the times he was constantly humping them both) this rotty tried to intervene by biting his tail gently, he would turn on her and get in her face, snapping and yipping and running after her when she moved away This rotty is a real sweetheart and didn't discipline my pup other than that - no dominant displays whatsoever, and she just looked the other way when he jumped at her. My aunt then commented that my pup was EXTREMELY dominant, and quizzed me about how I was training him etc etc .. the thing is, I don't know why he's like that around dogs - I've made sure that he knows he's the lowest ranked in the family, he is quite obedient to us (except when other dogs are around) and he was submissive when we got him. Could anyone please tell me what I'm doing wrong, how to do it right, and how to stop his behaviour? I want him to stop his excessive humping (I'm not talking one hump or two, he's acting like the only bull elephant in a herd of extremely attractive cows - in the middle of a desert island). Oh, and I also don't want a dominant pup. Is it possible to modify his behaviour? I've been as specific as I can be (LOL sorry about the blathering on and on) but sorry if I've left out some details. Thanks heaps in advance Peace out

For a quick fix while you figure out the real problem, you can probably dry shampoo him if the smell gets really bad. I've been told to rub baking soda into the dog's fur and then brush it off; apparently it neutralises doggy odours. I think the food issue should be considered because my pup started to smell on certain dry foods. I've changed foods twice and I've found that his smell changed depending on the type of food. (Still off puttingly smelly, but different somehow which didn't help) I'd probably listen to those telling you to change the food and see what happens. And maybe stay away from foods with a high cereal content, my pup absolutely stinks on those.