My Canine

A. Gorilla said:
I trialed my dog in French Ring a few years ago (with a Leerburg dog as a matter of fact). It was fun, but I am BURNT OUT ON DOG TRAINING.

However, if you need any tips on whatever, just lemme know.

I sold most of my gear though.

If I ever get another dog, I kinda just want a throw rug. Just lay there and look pretty. Good boy.
Click to expand...
That's so cool. Definitely a lot of work!
 
Giga said:
Just remember consistency is key. People just give up or give in(much like with kids) and the dog get bad habits or does whatever he wants. This was likely discussed but puppies look to you to set boundaries and limitations and need to know your alpha(not in a crazy alpha way, just that your dad!), a very practical example of this is to never let the dog pull or walk in front of you. SOOOO many people get this wrong and it sets in the dogs head that he's leader and get to do what he wants. Leash should be loose and they walking at your side. So that in crazy situation they don't have to freak out and know that you got there back and vise versa. Before my boy past away we went everywhere but avoided dog parks for the reason stated. 95% filled with idiots. See if you can find a place the trains dogs that has a dog park. We use to go to place where the dogs are check out before allowed in the park to make sure they behave well. I'm actually in the process of getting another great Dane in the next couple weeks. Dog are the best!
Click to expand...
Don't forget pictures later.
 
2 exceedingly useful commands are "leave it" which I taught to mean -ignore what you are focusing on rite now- it is supper useful all the time and is a really good way to break focus. As soon as you notice the dog focusing on something you give the command. The other was "give" supper simple, and supper useful, especially with a puppy. Sounds like you are having fun and doing well. I don't envy you. I am the only person I know that would rather have a dog than a puppy. A made dog is awesome, a puppy is a TON of work.
 
jacob letoile said:
2 exceedingly useful commands are "leave it" which I taught to mean -ignore what you are focusing on rite now- it is supper useful all the time and is a really good way to break focus. As soon as you notice the dog focusing on something you give the command. The other was "give" supper simple, and supper useful, especially with a puppy. Sounds like you are having fun and doing well. I don't envy you. I am the only person I know that would rather have a dog than a puppy. A made dog is awesome, a puppy is a TON of work.
Click to expand...
? You're talking to a guy who's growing out all his bonsai from immature stock.
 
Letting him climb things. He often does it without me telling him. Not sure if he enjoys it or does it for treats. How do yall play with your dogs? I have my Boston Terrier play fetch and tug. Sometimes I chase or get chases me. With this guy, he wants to bite and tug. It's fine, but wondered what else he might like. He doesn't care much for fetching.
'IMG_20180127_155219_429.jpg
 
The other philosophy (popular with the Dutch working dog community) is just leave them alone for a year. They are what they are. Their drive and workability can always be engaged. Other than taking them places to socialize to stuff, let them basically be. It's tough for busy bodies, but....it's a time honored process.
 
I take my dog to all kinds of places, there's a couple of fields a few hundred metres from my house which is regularly used by lots of dog owners. I know most of them and my dog is fine with them all but there's often an new random person so I have to be a bit wary. My dog is fine with 99% of other dogs but when she was younger she got attacked by some idiots staffy and now she can spot them a mile off. If they come near her she get extremely defensive, hackles raised, stalking body language. Once or twice if they don't take the hint it has resulted in a scrap.

I trained her myself and never paid any money for classes or anything, but I've grown up with dogs my whole life so pretty well in tune I think. The one thing I wish I had spent more time training is around food... she's got Labrador in her so she's greedy as hell and has had a few cases of upset stomach/food poisoning from eating crap she finds lying around outside.

Having an intelligent breed is real hard work but equally rewarding. My pooch is 1/2 german shepherd (dad), and 1/4 collie 1/4 labrador (mum)
Your pup looks awesome! You can really see that spark of brightness in their eyes and know you've got a really eager dog to work with.
 
Beautiful pup. I've always liked these guys but they would be too much for me. It's great to see someone make the effort for really good training.
 
Sounds like you're really putting the time in. Good.
Ruperts play consists of fetching sticks,catching frisbees (He's a killer frisbee dog) swimming,zooming,tug of war at night and one of those mind engaging toys he has to get treats out of.
If you don't know what zooming is,it's when they just take off and rip around in the lawn or field full bore. Growling at me as he goes by at 30m.p.h. Just sheer joy to be running.
 
M. Frary said:
Sounds like you're really putting the time in. Good.
Ruperts play consists of fetching sticks,catching frisbees (He's a killer frisbee dog) swimming,zooming,tug of war at night and one of those mind engaging toys he has to get treats out of.
If you don't know what zooming is,it's when they just take off and rip around in the lawn or field full bore. Growling at me as he goes by at 30m.p.h. Just sheer joy to be running.
Click to expand...
Yes. I know zooming. My Boston Terrier does it usually after dropping a no. 2. Every so often he does it when we have guests. He speeds past me at some point stops and turns on a dime. Then continues to speed on through the yard or home.

My new guy, Robert has been mostly walking and training. In evening I let him chill with me. He just lies lazily but actively chews his chew toys. His body is lying down and wiggling and moving around a lot. Nights ago, I took him walking at a new place near my part time job after work. It was Friday night and there's a gentleman's club, a bar, and night club near by. We walked past the noise and people. He did well. The booming music didn't bother him. Only one guy taking a picture of the Dallas skyline freaked him out a bit, so Robert barked at him. We got to see the electric trains, people boarding. A loud mouthed security guard barking, "Pretty dog going for a walk! Good dog!" He wasn't bothered then either. Pretty calm with my friends and family on leash when I visit them too.

Robert is such a funny dog. I get him to climb things, but he goes the extra distance and goes for the harder stuff too. He does it slowly and with some puppy whining. I don't force it on him. Today I walked him past some obstacles that I had used for his challenges. He automatically starts climbing up and down things, and he does it quick without any problem. I don't know if he just loves challenges or he does it for treats. I don't give him treats usually when he does things I don't ask or want to reinforce.
 
I hope my dog doesn't have anxiety from being away from me. I have him at my full time job site. He whines when I leave for outside. Sometimes he barks a bunch too. He doesn't care too much for the toys that I leave in his exercise pen. I see him every 2 hrs to let him go potty. I'd love to have him with me most of the day, but I want him to be able to be calm while I'm not around him. Is it just the puppy in him that he's like this? When I leave him, I just leave him. I don't get all emotional or nothing.
 
I'd say when you're at home work on his seperation anxiety. Make a fuss of him and close him in a room for 2 minutes, when he stops whining go back in a calmly greet him and give him a treat when he's not going mad. Repeat this and slowly build up the amount of time you are out of the room until 20 minutes or so. I wouldn't repeat this exercise too much in a short period though.

When you get to leaving him for a bit longer give him something really godamn tasty to spend time with. Kong toys are amazing, I mix up some boiled rize and crunchy peanut butter and stuff a Kong full of it then freeze it overnight. If I know I'm going out for a few hours I give my dog the stuffed Kong and it keeps her entertained for ages.

Another thing I do is I've got an old deflated football (soccer ball or whatever) with one of the hexagons she ripped off. I jam as many of her smaller toys and tennis balls inside it as I can, but also put a few treats in there so she can smell them. Stuff like this makes her work to get to the treats. Also hiding small treats around the area your dog is kept is a good way of occupying his mind for a time.

Sometimes it's unavoidable but so long as you stay fairly consistent I think your dog will learn that you are not going to abandon him. Once or twice early on when my dog was pretty young I got caught at work and she ended up being left for 6 or so hours and I felt terrible. She quite rightly repaid me by managing to scale the dog-gate in the doorway and peeing all over our rug multiple times.
 
There isn’t a lot screw up, unless later your basis for reward is tug play, then you could inhibit his joy of biting if you are hard on him early and often about being mouthy.

But eliciting crisp responses with food is usually simple....just make sure he’s hungry as hell.

The rest? Eh. Laisezz faire. Let him see and do stuff and ignore him. Just protect from overt idiots and off leash dogs of unknown origin, It all comes together in the end. They survive being alone. No stress.

Kinda irritates me when so many people think nervous dogs “must have been abused”. Nah...usually just shit genes; it’s what landed them in the shelter to begin with.

On the flip side, solid dogs are just basically solid.
 
Last edited:
Robert can be barky when I walk away, but it'll be minutes before he quiets down. He might play with the toys I leave in the ex-pen or he might go into the crate that I place inside the ex-pen. I now have my own business, so I got an area away from clients where the ex-pen is. It's how I get to take him potty every 2 hours.

I'll defintely try the Kong trick @Cattwooduk. I got this toy that looks sort of like a bowling pin. It rocks back and forth like the old school roly poly clown toys. Anyways as it gets knocked around, it drops some kibble. I got to get that thing going again. He might have lost interest in it. I got to do a better job of rotating his toys. The guy in the leerburg video says he rotates the toys every 2 days.

@A. Gorilla I try not to inhibit his biting too much. I think biting is sort of his life. I only stop him when he bites me or the wife hard.
 
I just wanted to say that the care and thoughtfulness you are putting into raising your puppy right, is pretty admirable. Some people don't put that much thought and care into raising their children. Unfortunately.
 
LOL I don't really know why I love this dog so much. Maybe it's because I have no children. If we do have children, I think my dog training will help. :D
 
thumblessprimate1 said:
LOL I don't really know why I love this dog so much. Maybe it's because I have no children. If we do have children, I think my dog training will help. :D
Click to expand...

I can tell you the training will pay off for that exact reason! I grew up with dogs but my dog I have now is the first which is 'my own' that I picked and trained completely by myself. Waited years until I had bought my own place with my girlfriend who never really liked dogs before feeling ready to get one. I think I'm more attached to the dog than my girlfriend lol.

We now have a 6 month old baby and the dogs training means she is very calm around children. She wants to know where he is when we get home, and lies down on the floor when he's playing and noses him to make him laugh. He's totally obsessed with her and I can't wait to see how they grow up together!
 
thumblessprimate1 said:
I hope my dog doesn't have anxiety from being away from me. I have him at my full time job site. He whines when I leave for outside. Sometimes he barks a bunch too. He doesn't care too much for the toys that I leave in his exercise pen. I see him every 2 hrs to let him go potty. I'd love to have him with me most of the day, but I want him to be able to be calm while I'm not around him. Is it just the puppy in him that he's like this? When I leave him, I just leave him. I don't get all emotional or nothing.
Click to expand...
When you leave the house, JUST LEAVE. Don't say goodbye to the dogs (dogs don't say good bye to each other) Don't make a fuss over leaving. Just leave. Saying "good bye boo boo" or something and talking in a high voice telling the dog you're leaving, or similarly stimulating him just ramps up the excitement -- then you leave and the dog is well, still ramped up. That is what leads to separation anxiety.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom