Bark Busters?

[laffi]

What about having a chat to Ann Bulke - at Camp Tailwaggers. She is a goldie breeder and is sure to be able to provide guidance. I am not sure where on the Gold Coast you are but she has started a club each Sat at her property. I can send you a weblink otherwise just google Camp Tailwaggers.

I think that's a great idea!!! :D

[Guest Steph & Bam]

Two other options for the Gold Coast (I recently moved from there only 5 weeks ago) are The Gold Coast Dog Obedience Training Club in Southport and The VIP Pet Foods Dog Club. I highly reccomend VIP, but they are a little more expensive than the GCDOTC.

Maree at VIP is brilliant and really knows her stuff. Everyone is very friendly and they also do things like agility and doggy commando, plus trick training and doggy dancing.

Border_Lover goes to the GCDOTC and her dog Fly is amazing. I'll let her pop her head in and say a few things.

A link for you:

VIP Dog Club

Contact Details

GOLD COAST DOG OBEDIENCE TRAINING CLUB Inc.

Alicia Street, Southport

Ph: 5591 7048

[Staff'n'Toller]

It is a lot to expect from a four-month old. This all started at seeing my friend's new perfect dog come back from that boot camp, but I don't feel right about the choke chain. As far as normal puppy problems, chewing and digging are a nuisance but bearable. I know he will eventually learn. But the mouthing has to stop. And the barking has gotten really bad. We're going away for a weekend next month. He's staying with the in-laws and I'm worried he is going to bark the whole time. Barking and mouthing are problems I need sorted now.

And I do take him to training, and love it. It's good for teaching commands but hasn't helped much with the problem-stuff.

How old is your friends dog? Adult dogs quite often come back from boarding & training and do very well for a number of weeks before their owners get slack, don't continue on with their training and the dogs work it all out and go back to normal. Bye bye $500+.

Fear is no way to train a dog - particularly a 4mth old Golden - neither is punishment so forget the chain and forget Bark Busters.

Send him to the in-laws with pigs ears, raw bones and show them how to stuff a kong, give them a lead and ask them to take him for a 20 min walk twice a day- a 'sniffing' walk not a heel-by-my-side-at-all-times-walk, ensure they will give him the stuff to do that you provided them with.

You bought a Gundog- they mouth! It's up to you to teach him to soft mouth then not at all, no choker chain is going to do it for you.

Tired dogs are quiet dogs, and the same goes for pups, what is his timetable each day? What are you doing to keep him mentally and physically fulfilled?

Puppy school is also about early socialisation, very basic training and some behavioural problem solving. If you are getting no help with the mouthing then it is time that you and your pup move on to further training, as others have suggested, so that you have trainers that you can check-in with weekly to help you chart your progress.

Kong website

Buster Cube

Aussie dog toys

Barking and Bite Inhibition

Self control

Lucky last...might be the best one though.

It takes a pack to raise a puppy!

Mel.

Edited February 20, 2008 by Staff'n'Toller

[IncrediJack]

It is a lot to expect from a four-month old. This all started at seeing my friend's new perfect dog come back from that boot camp, but I don't feel right about the choke chain. As far as normal puppy problems, chewing and digging are a nuisance but bearable. I know he will eventually learn. But the mouthing has to stop. And the barking has gotten really bad. We're going away for a weekend next month. He's staying with the in-laws and I'm worried he is going to bark the whole time. Barking and mouthing are problems I need sorted now.

And I do take him to training, and love it. It's good for teaching commands but hasn't helped much with the problem-stuff.

How old is your friends dog? Adult dogs quite often come back from boarding & training and do very well for a number of weeks before their owners get slack, don't continue on with their training and the dogs work it all out and go back to normal. Bye bye $500+.

Fear is no way to train a dog - particularly a 4mth old Golden - neither is punishment so forget the chain and forget Bark Busters.

Send him to the in-laws with pigs ears, raw bones and show them how to stuff a kong, give them a lead and ask them to take him for a 20 min walk twice a day- a 'sniffing' walk not a heel-by-my-side-at-all-times-walk, ensure they will give him the stuff to do that you provided them with.

You bought a Gundog- they mouth! It's up to you to teach him to soft mouth then not at all, no choker chain is going to do it for you.

Tired dogs are quiet dogs, and the same goes for pups, what is his timetable each day? What are you doing to keep him mentally and physically fulfilled?

Puppy school is also about early socialisation, very basic training and some behavioural problem solving. If you are getting no help with the mouthing then it is time that you and your pup move on to further training, as others have suggested, so that you have trainers that you can check-in with weekly to help you chart your progress.

Kong website

Buster Cube

Aussie dog toys

Barking and Bite Inhibition

Self control

Lucky last...might be the best one though.

It takes a pack to raise a puppy!

Mel.

Thanks for the links. Asking about mental and physical stimulation, I walk him to the beach and give him two 15-minute training sessions. Except today. I'm trying something different, carrying my treat pouch with me all day, so I have something on hand when he stops barking, biting, digging . . .

Edited February 20, 2008 by IncrediJack

[IncrediJack]

Two other options for the Gold Coast (I recently moved from there only 5 weeks ago) are The Gold Coast Dog Obedience Training Club in Southport and The VIP Pet Foods Dog Club. I highly reccomend VIP, but they are a little more expensive than the GCDOTC.

Maree at VIP is brilliant and really knows her stuff. Everyone is very friendly and they also do things like agility and doggy commando, plus trick training and doggy dancing.

Border_Lover goes to the GCDOTC and her dog Fly is amazing. I'll let her pop her head in and say a few things.

A link for you:

VIP Dog Club

Contact Details

GOLD COAST DOG OBEDIENCE TRAINING CLUB Inc.

Alicia Street, Southport

Ph: 5591 7048

VIP, that's where we go, and I love it! I have been very unlucky, though. For the past six weeks of puppy school, four of them have been rained out!!!

[Erny]

Not all dog schools provide instructors who are able to help with behaviour issues or behaviour issues occurring at home. Great if they do, but check with them. Obedience (ie sit; drop; heel; etc.) and socialisation - both of which, taught properly, are great but are not necessarily going to fix the problems you've expressed in your other thread.

Shame your school had to cancel for 4 weeks due to rain. That's a big slug out of a very important development period for your pup.

For Queensland - I've read of a number of people singing praises for Jane Harper's training/behaviourist skills. If you PM me Incredijack, I'll send you what I know of as her contact details, if you'd like them.

Edited February 20, 2008 by Erny

[kateykateykatey]

Look, it's great that you're trying to fix the problem at all, and I reckon that it can be *really* hard at times (particularly barking) on the patience.

I don't know any dog trainers on the Gold Coast, so I can't make this recommendation based on personal experience. However, Gold Coast Dog Obedience are Delta Society trainers, so they're positive reinforcement trainers (which it sounded like you were interested in).

Good luck!

[fletch]

Has anyone tried Bark Busters? And what were your experiences? Were they expensive? When they talk about using the dog's language, does that mean I have to bark at my dog (the neighbours already think I'm weird).

I just joined this site but with your 4 month old lab I have found that they can sometimes get what is called a dependency problem wich can lead to excessive barking one of the quickest and kindest ways to fix this is if you are going away for a couple of days put him in a boarding kennel for the time,JUST MAKE SURE THEY DO NOT TRANQUILISE DOGS, all will say they don"t but a lot will check if anyone here knows a good kennel on the coast, the other thing is the mouthing will stop just continue with what your doing he is teething at the moment with the digging if it is just the lawn and he keeps going back to the same spot put a blown up balloon in their when he digs it will pop give him a fright and should stop him if it is your garden more than likly it comes back to the dependancy problem as your smell is in your garden make sure you give him one spot to dig for cool dirt as they will do this on a hot day

[Erny]

I just joined this site but with your 4 month old lab I have found that they can sometimes get what is called a dependency problem wich can lead to excessive barking one of the quickest and kindest ways to fix this is if you are going away for a couple of days put him in a boarding kennel for the time,JUST MAKE SURE THEY DO NOT TRANQUILISE DOGS, all will say they don"t but a lot will check if anyone here knows a good kennel on the coast...

Hi Fletch :D . Welcome to the site.

The problem with what you've suggested here is that sometimes this method can actually escalate the problem. Scenario example : Dog's anxiety increases when placed in kennels and when he returns to the owner is even more anxious that he might be separated, so becomes even more clingy and more concerned when the owner is absent.

Your suggestion for the balloon might bear results, however if for example something such as anxiety or boredom is the root of the problem for the digging behaviour, you would only be dealing with the symptom. If the cause of the problem continues to exist, it is possible that the behaviour may not desist, and may in fact either worsen or manifest itself by means of other unwanted behaviours. In addition, if something like anxiety is the root cause for the digging problem, a popping balloon can be frightening and might only go towards increasing the already existent anxiety.

... make sure you give him one spot to dig for cool dirt as they will do this on a hot day

This can help in some situations. It's called "stimulation control" and I too have commonly suggested it to people who have dogs who are incessant diggers and/or where the behaviour is innate - for example with terriers, who were and are selectively bred for the digging trait. Providing them with a sand-pit to dig in (but simultaneously being vigilant to teach them to dig there and nowhere else in the yard) can provide them with a source of satisfaction of the instinct for which they've been bred.

ETA: If the dog is digging for 'shelter', then adequate shelter from the elements needs to be supplied.

Thank you for posting here and I hope my explanation to your discerning post has leant some explanation to show that sometimes things are not as simple as we might at first believe them to be. :D

Erny

Footnote: None of the above 'causes' used as an example in the above necessarily relate to Incredijack's pup's issues ..... I'm not even sure where 'dependancy' cropped up. Perhaps I've missed something? But from memory from Incredijack's other thread, her pup is only 16 weeks old. The behaviours she describes do sound like 'normal' puppy behaviours, albeit that they are unwanted and she needs to work with her pup to consistently and effectively show her pup these behaviours are not desireable. A popping balloon at this young age could serve to sensitise her pup to loud noises - not something we'd want to occur. Teaching a young pup independence is a process in itself - ideally it is about leaving the pup in an environment where it feels safe and occupied, initially for short periods and then increasing those periods over time.

Edited February 24, 2008 by Erny

[Kowai]

I think there is an Obedience club at South Port isn't there?

--Edit--

Oops thats been mentioned

Edited February 24, 2008 by Kowai