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A mellow night at Chez GruntPuppy - Doggo Training was Successful!!!

GP thank you, profoundly for post #47, it had me grinning from ear to ear. I'm delighted to hear that this has all the makings of a mutually beneficial relationship.

On food, we use Tails.com as it's largely hassle-free, but there's a cost premium. If not Tails, then we found our 3 labs tolerated James Wellbeloved best of all the mass market kibble brands. The fishy one, in particular, seems to be widely tolerated (our second lab had a sensitive stomach - perhaps from eating all our !%$%*€£ staircase spindles as a nipper. She had a penchant for wood, and would graze on fallen twigs all the way round a walk given half a chance. We're convinced she wasn't a pedigree Lab, but actually a Lab-termite cross).

Our current dog also refuses to do her business in the garden. Her predecessors had no such scruples, but it's quite common, apparently, that dogs refuse to soil their own area. Makes sense, really. What we have done is define two different 'walkies'. There's the 'shall we go and do a thing?' walk, which is a 5 minute stroll round the corner, do the biz on the grass verge, collect any solids, return and dispose. There's a fine hornbeam tree 100 yards away, where we cross the road and return at that point, so she knows that duty needs to be done before we get back. Then there's the 'walkies!' which involves more time, probably parks, and running about. She absolutely knows the difference, and knows that the last one at night before retiring is absolutely not the time for dicking about, sniffing and loitering. It's about establishing routines, innit.

Sounds like he's a biggun, alright. Are you sure he's a dog? Does he have feet, or hooves?
 
All this behaviour is quite normal however you are not helping matters.
When I was rehoming greyhounds, remember these were adult dogs, with pretty entrenched ideas so "old dogs, new tricks" comes to mind but we got there in the end.

Your dog trainer will give you some pointers but what I would say 90% of dog training is training the human and not the dog.

I always used to recommend "The Dog Listener" by Jan Ferral, it'll give you a fair idea of what is going on between his not so little ears.

As to the aversion therapy we always used to use an empty coke can with 30 x1p pieces or pebbles and a swift shake and "NO"

The "Mary had a little lamb" syndrome is quite natural, you dog sees you as pack leader and quite naturally wants to be with his pack 24/7.

Btw attention must be given on your terms and not his, so no petting on demand.

Check out http://www.hantsgreyrescue.co.uk/adopt_a_greyhound.html

Last but not least in the past I did a lot of work with Roger Mugford, the TV Vet and behaviourist, who has his own company which specialises in all things pet and they are great and the site has a mega amount of info and quite happy to have a chat.

https://www.companyofanimals.co.uk

I'm hoping you meant

The Dog Listener by Jan Fennell

because that's what I went and found! please pardon the font, that's how it copied and pasted from Amazon. Bookfinder.com is a wonderful site.
 
GP thank you, profoundly for post #47, it had me grinning from ear to ear. I'm delighted to hear that this has all the makings of a mutually beneficial relationship.

On food, we use Tails.com as it's largely hassle-free, but there's a cost premium. If not Tails, then we found our 3 labs tolerated James Wellbeloved best of all the mass market kibble brands. The fishy one, in particular, seems to be widely tolerated (our second lab had a sensitive stomach - perhaps from eating all our !%$%*€£ staircase spindles as a nipper. She had a penchant for wood, and would graze on fallen twigs all the way round a walk given half a chance. We're convinced she wasn't a pedigree Lab, but actually a Lab-termite cross).

Our current dog also refuses to do her business in the garden. Her predecessors had no such scruples, but it's quite common, apparently, that dogs refuse to soil their own area. Makes sense, really. What we have done is define two different 'walkies'. There's the 'shall we go and do a thing?' walk, which is a 5 minute stroll round the corner, do the biz on the grass verge, collect any solids, return and dispose. There's a fine hornbeam tree 100 yards away, where we cross the road and return at that point, so she knows that duty needs to be done before we get back. Then there's the 'walkies!' which involves more time, probably parks, and running about. She absolutely knows the difference, and knows that the last one at night before retiring is absolutely not the time for dicking about, sniffing and loitering. It's about establishing routines, innit.

Sounds like he's a biggun, alright. Are you sure he's a dog? Does he have feet, or hooves?

Yes, we tried Tails.com with Chubbly's predecessor, and it gave the poor little bugger the shits. It's wierd, Charlie was from the same breeder, same line too. He was with my parents until his cancer last year. Chubbly was raised on Eukanuba Growing Puppy, but a messed up delivery of dogfood meant that I used Harrington's complete puppy food as a "short term" solution. He eats it better, and i'm tempted to keep him on it.

I actually welcome the wakeups - I'm not allowed to have "useless" days, and a structure that I lacked much (if any) incentive to impose. The exercise is pretty good too. 4 walks a day regularly, although some I walk more slowly than others. The little bugger is muscling up a treat, too. His previous lack of exercise has been mostly made good.

I asked him about his feet, he says they're feet, who am I to argue?
 
GP Yes that is the book.
Sorry about the spelling, I lent my copy to a new owner way a few years ago and forgot to chase them up to return it.

Yes, as you are finding out dogs can be a "babe" magnet so enjoy the attention!
 
GP Yes that is the book.
Sorry about the spelling, I lent my copy to a new owner way a few years ago and forgot to chase them up to return it.

Yes, as you are finding out dogs can be a "babe" magnet so enjoy the attention!

Although at this time of year they're more likely to be MUD MAGNETS.

I'm pleased to report a certain puppy is tucking into his evening meal WITHOUT ANY CORNED BEEF.

Dog trainer hasn't responded with a recommendation for a book to work from until I get Chubbly to obedience classes, so, soddit, going to go and find one. Mental stimulation is obviously needed now
 
Although at this time of year they're more likely to be MUD MAGNETS.

I'm pleased to report a certain puppy is tucking into his evening meal WITHOUT ANY CORNED BEEF.

Dog trainer hasn't responded with a recommendation for a book to work from until I get Chubbly to obedience classes, so, soddit, going to go and find one. Mental stimulation is obviously needed now
If he needs mental stimulation, then it doesn’t really matter which book you choose, because teaching him to read it should provide all the mental stimulation he can handle.
 
Well... an interesting time today.

My ex had to go and pick her granddaughter up from nursery, and she ended up at the flat for about an hour. I've never seen an alsatian worship a small child so much. all he wanted to do was be near her, he knows he's not allowed to lick faces, but fingers and toes were not off-limits. Seeing a 3 year old give the pup his treats was amazing. He was so gentle taking the food, beautiful.
 
Big dogs and small children, I have read too many stories of docile big dogs taking a bite out of small kids. Be careful please.
 
Big dogs and small children, I have read too many stories of docile big dogs taking a bite out of small kids. Be careful please.

Extremely. Close supervision at all times, I'm not one of those people that complacently thinks that because nothing has happened yet, nothing will.

This is what melted my heart (again) yesterday...

5SMYPe.jpg


Please pardon the clutter, but the arrival of the dog was brought forward considerably and wrecked my "life laundry" process. I'm determined to finish it, possibly in 2027.
 
The Dog training continues...

He's much less aggressive with other dogs now - still raises a cautionary hackle, but does like to touch noses. I was so proud of him - a woman had her two pomeranians off the lead, and they were doing attack runs at him like two furry x-wings on crack, all he did was stand and watch.

He's still growing. I bought an XXL dog bed for him. Sadly, he's an XXXL pup now:

Fd9QoI.jpg


Next up will be some cautious outdoor recall work - probably in the small hours, around 6am when the park is deserted. Incidentally, if any of you is looking for a good dog whistle - NOT one of those godawful super-sonic ones - the Acme 210.5 is very good indeed. I've been using one for positive reinforcement work prior to doing the outdoor thing, and it's been a delight. Much as I begrudge paying £6 for a piece of plastic, for the right piece of plastic it's a done deal :)
 


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