koalathebear Posted July 23, 2010 Author Share Posted July 23, 2010 Sheesh I was just giving you my opinion! I won't bother offering that in future... *laugh* Your advice is very welcome and I am sorry if my reply came out the wrong way (can I blame my awkward syntax on Tuesday's hand surgery? - just saying that it's always confusing to know who to listen to even on here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted July 23, 2010 Author Share Posted July 23, 2010 (edited) You'll rarely achieve consenus on anything here. What's 'right' for one dog and owner may not be 'right' for others or all. Sometimes trial and error in the only way to find out. I think you have hit the nail on the head here PF. In the old days, it wasn't quite so easy to get so much info - these days, new puppy owners have access to a LOT of information, but sometimes the volume is daunting and not all of is consistent. We delayed giving Elbie a bone for so long because we'd heard so many horror stories but in the end decided to go for it and just keep an eye on him while he had it. Fortunately, he just seems to like licking it, scooping out the marrow and nibbling at it rather than actively chewing/gnawing on it. Same with pig ears, we read that they were great for keeping your puppy occupied but only one very farty and happy puppy later did we do further googling and realise how unhealthy they were!!! It can be almost impossible for a newb here to differentiate between the opinions of novice dog owners who've raised one pup and those who speak from a range of experiences. Advice that sounds authoratative may not be. When you can sort the wheat from the chaff, you'll probably be able to sort out what advice you should be listening to. Absolutely. Post count is no guarantee of experience and it's sometimes hard to distinguish between: 1. experienced dog owner who has raised more than one dog, even better - different breeds of dog 2. person who had successfully raised one dog (luck may or may not have been involved) 3. person who is still in the course of raising a puppy/dog I'm in category #3 so whenever I offer comments, I try to make it clear that it's just based on what I've seen with Elbie (who is still a work in progress rather than making it advice that is applicable to anyone else's circumstances. I actually find category #3 advice helpful given that we are in the course of raising Elbie. As to category #2, these people can sound so persuasive The advice can be helpful but you never know if it's something that might be specific to their dog only There was a girl at work who was trying to assure me bones were totally safe. She got her Great Dane puppy from the breeder at 4 weeks - to be fair, the breeder apparently said: "take the pup now or I put it to sleep" - then her pup apparently ate a bone that was almost as big as the pup itself. It survived and is now a happy and well-adjusted middle aged dog but that sounded to me like sheer luck rather than bones being safe! Same with the tales of dogs that eat chocolate/onions/macadamias/cooked chicken bones etc without incident... There's no risk-free environment or food for a puppy and the Advice Obstacle Course can be confusing but I do read every single bit of advice I can find and then my OH and I try to make sure whatever we give Elbie is monitored closely so that it can be taken away if it starts to look like it could be problematic. While we are at work, we just have to hope he doesn't have a mishap Edited July 23, 2010 by koalathebear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 KTB: Absolutely. Post count is no guarantee of experience and it's sometimes hard to distinguish between:1. experienced dog owner who has raised more than one dog, even better - different breeds of dog 2. person who had successfully raised one dog (luck may or may not have been involved) 3. person who is still in the course of raising a puppy/dog Even those who've raised a heap of dogs may have managed with more luck than science KTB. Years of dog ownership don't always equate to superior knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted July 23, 2010 Author Share Posted July 23, 2010 Even those who've raised a heap of dogs may have managed with more luck than science KTB. Years of dog ownership don't always equate to superior knowledge. You are scaring me! *clings to you* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 (edited) Even those who've raised a heap of dogs may have managed with more luck than science KTB. Years of dog ownership don't always equate to superior knowledge. You are scaring me! *clings to you* *Peels KTB off* Geeze, there are dog owners here who run rings around me!! All I can say is that there is a heap of good advice here, some of it from very novice dog owners and the best way to sift through it all is to verify what you're reading through other sources and don't try anything that makes you uneasy. The best example of that is "home remedies" for ailments. Some are brilliant. Others... Edited July 23, 2010 by poodlefan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuffles Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 And then consider that advice from two people with lots of experience and knowledge can also be completely different! See you on Sunday KTB? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archerlove Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 Thanks Koalathebear for all that info.I`ll be usin some of Elbies tricks for our puppy.At what age did you start training? Is he sleepin outside yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted July 23, 2010 Author Share Posted July 23, 2010 (edited) And then consider that advice from two people with lots of experience and knowledge can also be completely different! Ha thanks for playing with my mind! See you on Sunday KTB? We will definitely be there on Sunday with our little monster. I am keen to try Elbie in the off leash area again as he did a little better last week despite being chased around the area by a Bernese mountain dog and a large scary looking dog named Mojo. See you then! Are you and Ava ready for bronze exams in two weeks' time? Elbie performs beautifully except when the instructor is looking at him!!!! Thanks Koalathebear for all that info.I`ll be usin some of Elbies tricks for our puppy.At what age did you start training?Is he sleepin outside yet? Hi archerlove: Glad the information came in handy. You can start training your puppy straight away, I know a lot of people on this forum who have their puppies doing tricks at eight weeks. To be honest our first few weeks were a little bit of a blur with toilet training overload so we actually started doing training for tricks at around 10-11 weeks. I think we were too tired and preoccupied to start earlier than that. We also had a philosophical discussion about whether teaching Elbie tricks was for his benefit or our entertainment. It's actually more for him than for us, he's a very active little dog and the tricks keep him occupied. In the beginning they used to tire him out - not any more - these days they seem quite effortless for him In the beginning, we were only trying to get him to go to the toilet outside and on command. Then we started trying to slow him down a little bit at his mealtimes by are making him wait before starting on his food. He used to literally sit there and quiver with anticipation. After that we worked on drop for a long time. Weirdly enough the stay only came a lot later because he always wanted to follow us if we had food. Beg and hi-five were done at roughly the same time. You can see more of his tricks over here at the Elbie photos thread. Elbie's not sleeping outside yet. At present he sleeps indoors at night in his crate. Part of me wants him to learn how to sleep outside in case we ever wanted to go on a weekend trip to Sydney or Melbourne (he could stay in our yard while friends or relatives could stopp by to check on him and give him food and water) but at present Canberra is too cold to even think about leaving him outside at night. He is more willing to go into his kennel during the day after we put straw and a dog trampoline inside - we also have moved it right next to the back door. I suspect that we would have a hard time enjoying a holiday knowing that Elbie was missing us and we could never leave him at a professional kennel ... Hope that helps a little. I look forward to seeing video clips of your puppy, you will have seen above that wizzle has made great progress with her puppy Genevieve - possibly one of the cutest little cavs ever Edited July 23, 2010 by koalathebear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuffles Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 We will definitely be there on Sunday with our little monster. I am keen to try Elbie in the off leash area again as he did a little better last week despite being chased around the area by a Bernese mountain dog and a large scary looking dog named Mojo. See you then! Are you and Ava ready for bronze exams in two weeks' time? Elbie performs beautifully except when the instructor is looking at him!!!! If Elbie doesn't like being chased, the off leash area probably isn't the best for him! It's pretty full on in there... We are doing well in bronze, I've been doing heaps of work but we'll see what happens on assessment day. It's not a big deal if we don't pass as Ava is not even 8 months old yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genabee Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 Hope that helps a little. I look forward to seeing video clips of your puppy, you will have seen above that wizzle has made great progress with her puppy Genevieve - possibly one of the cutest little cavs ever You're too kind Koalathebear!!! She might be cute but she has been driving me crazy today! I was trying to do my tax and all she wanted to do was play... so I kept stopping to do some trick work with her, just to give her a couple of minutes of attention. Needless to say, my tax isn't finished! She very easily regresses if I have a day of slacking off - whether it be not waiting outside with her to toilet, or not walking her or not doing much trick work. She definitely needs the constant brain stimulation. Genevieve stimulated = sane Wizzle!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted August 27, 2010 Author Share Posted August 27, 2010 Yesterday I was watching a great video that wuffles made of Ava. Inspired, I decided to try to figure out how to use Windows Movie Maker. Here is Elbie's first music video and my first attempt at vidding ... Be gentle! Video is . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clastic Posted August 27, 2010 Share Posted August 27, 2010 I've watched both vids and I'd have to say they are both fantastic! KTB, I love the end of the vid where Elbie opens the sliding door! Oh oh, and watching him as a puppy bouncing around for that kong... awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted August 28, 2010 Author Share Posted August 28, 2010 Oh oh, and watching him as a puppy bouncing around for that kong... awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!! :D Thank you! Elbie was EXTREMELY cute as a wee pup. They grow up so quickly!!! It's ridiculous! Unless you know of a breed of dog where the grown up dogs retain their cute snubby puppy snouts, I fear we are going to have to get Elbie's snout docked to retain his cuteness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genabee Posted August 28, 2010 Share Posted August 28, 2010 (edited) Oh oh, and watching him as a puppy bouncing around for that kong... awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!! Thank you! Elbie was EXTREMELY cute as a wee pup. They grow up so quickly!!! It's ridiculous! Unless you know of a breed of dog where the grown up dogs retain their cute snubby puppy snouts, I fear we are going to have to get Elbie's snout docked to retain his cuteness :D You are so clever KTB!!! He has grown so fast!!! I love his little white paws! But I especially love the winnie the pooh jimmies!!! Edited to add: I LOVE the song! Edited August 28, 2010 by Wizzle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted August 28, 2010 Author Share Posted August 28, 2010 He has grown so fast!!! I love his little white paws! He has grown like a weed! Fortunately it appears to have been healthy growth - I was a bit anxious about it because he was desexed far earlier than we would have liked and we'd heard that that can lead to crazy growth ... But I especially love the winnie the pooh jimmies!!! I'm just glad my Cutie Cow pyjamas didn't show up anywhere. Then again, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one whose had pyjamas have a cameo in a dog video - I have a recollection of seeing a few others recently ;) The latest trick I've been trying to teach Elbie is to balance a dog biscuit on his nose. It's very funny but then I hope I'm not being cruel to the poor baby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marley'z Mum Posted August 28, 2010 Share Posted August 28, 2010 omg that was awesome sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo CUTE!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted September 3, 2010 Author Share Posted September 3, 2010 (edited) Marley'z Mum: Thanks! Any updates on Marley? I'd love to see photos/videos To give Elbie a break from the "balancing things on his nose" trick, we decided to work on a new trick. It took all of tonight's dinner kibble (1 cup doled out a teeny bit at a time), but after a few aborted attempts, Elbie learned how to .Here's an . I like the: "What?" look he gives me. He was hilarious when he was learning, he kept putting the ball all over the place and then running up to me and staring at me intently as if to say: "Is this right? how about this? And this? Come on - this has to be right!"He's also learned to generalise i.e. he puts different toys in the box in different rooms. Edited September 3, 2010 by koalathebear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marley'z Mum Posted September 3, 2010 Share Posted September 3, 2010 Hey KTB I will post update on Marley in the next few days with some new pics he is doing well though.... we went to the beach last weekend, he wasn't interested in going in the water which is a lil disappointing but maybe he might give it a go next time hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baykinz Posted September 3, 2010 Share Posted September 3, 2010 I love seeing Elbie's new tricks posted! He's a clever cookie (and cute, to boot). I keep eyeing off books of tricks, myself, and have to remind myself that I've only had my puppy for two weeks and am still muddling through toileting and some basics ... Tesla's idea of an appropriate response to a down/drop lure is usually to jump vertically in the air directly from a sit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted September 4, 2010 Author Share Posted September 4, 2010 (edited) I love seeing Elbie's new tricks posted! He's a clever cookie (and cute, to boot). I keep eyeing off books of tricks, myself, and have to remind myself that I've only had my puppy for two weeks and am still muddling through toileting and some basics ... Tesla's idea of an appropriate response to a down/drop lure is usually to jump vertically in the air directly from a sit. You're doing well with Tesla. When we first got Elbie at 8 weeks, we weren't even thinking about tricks - just trying to deal with house-training and his night-time crying. At 10 weeks, we still weren't doing any tricks - just making him wait for his food! was a fail. was success. After he waited for his food successfully, then we started doing tricks with him I can't wait to see Tesla's tricks!Also, I've bought two trick books but to be honest, you can probably find all the tricks you need on DOL and on youtube! I really recommend that tab289 guy on youtube - he breaks down the tricks into easy steps that make the tricks seem less daunting. Edited September 4, 2010 by koalathebear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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