Topic: Rox's Dog Advice Thread

[El_Frank]

Ok. How old is he and what breed?

[reddebs]

Ok. How old is he and what breed?

We think he's about 9 or 10.  He's a rescue border collie.

[El_Frank]

And he has no signs of anything else? No balance problems, or holding his head funny or anything like that lingering on since?

[reddebs]

And he has no signs of anything else? No balance problems, or holding his head funny or anything like that lingering on since?

Nope nothing.  He's been his normal playful self and eating and drinking as usual.

[telekon]

Getting my first puppy tomorrow. Excited and a bit nervous. Mostly excited. She's 10 weeks of bichon poodle cuteness overload.

Read so many articles, listened to pods, watched so many videos. Want to be a good guardian and friend. I think a lot of it boils down to being calm and common sense, and having a lot of love to give.

Some "experts" advise to start training with the first meal, other experts dogs don't even know how to sit. Same goes for advise on when to take the first walk. I live on the 4th floor in an apartment so it's not ideal to go outside but we have a good yard. I've also been cleared to work from home for many weeks, possibly until my leave which starts in 2 months where I'll be at home 100% for five months.

Bought a nice dog bed, dog food, one chewing toy (so that I can try her leaving the furniture alone), treats (for when I want to start training if I ever decide to), got an old tennis ball and will make some toys from toilet rolls (this was a great tip from a pod). Also got small wooden plates for food and water. Cleaned the apartment thoroughly and removed any loose item on the floor. She will get a blanket that her mother slept on.

Don't know if I've forgotten anything? Any tips on the first days are welcome.  (It is illegal to have dogs in cages/crates in Sweden so I won't have that)

[El_Frank]

Training definitely begins on day one because from day one your pup is learning what it can and cannot do and where it fits in with everything, and as I said above somewhere, my big bit of advice would be to treat your pup like the adult dog it will soon be. Too many people treat it like a puppy and then when it's 10 months old they don't want it to do all the things they've been letting it do since day one. Undoing what it has since learned is a lot more difficult for you than to keep things clear from the off.
Socialisation is huge. Not just to other dogs and people but to the wider world and the things in it. Your pup needs to experience things but also to feel safe enough in doing so, again, too many people make the mistake of unintentionally 'flooding' their dogs with too much or things that are too loud or too scary etc. Experiences should provide assurance and confidence. Reward the things you want, ignore or distract from the things you don't want (depends what, obviously)...oh, and hopefully you have a lift in your building because otherwise you'll be fit as a fiddle in a few weeks from going up and down the stairs for every time it needs to 'go', which will be many times a day, starting from the minute you get up, after every meal (should be about 4 meals a day for now) and last thing at night. Also, it will do you good to get it used to being on its own for some periods, which you need to build up, otherwise you might end up with a dog that doesn't want to be on its own once you're back at work and that can lead to barking, messing, destruction etc.

P.S: not sure what the toilet roll thing is but my initial thought is that this may end up as a potential choke hazard. Some dogs just chew things but some chew and swallow, even the most ludicrous of things at times, so be careful with that, soggy cardboard could cause a blockage.
Finally, along those lines I suppose, be careful where you get your info about dogs from. Some people know what they're doing and some people just get famous enough. Separate the wheat from the chaff by doing plenty of research about who you're getting your info from as well as just getting lots of opinions. Good luck!

[telekon]

Cheers!

I've been so lucky, she only went inside on the first day, then yesterday and today all waste was dumped outside. One day and housebroken. I'm sure there will be mishaps down the line but I'm well proud of her.

The first day she was very cautious and laid under the sofa, but the day after she was taking initiatives. She loves to sit in the lap, going out and sniffing on everything, loves chewing on grass. She hardly ate the first day but now she's up to pretty much full intake, and she loves watermelon.

We've fenced off the balcony and she quite likes to survey from up there. She's happy to see other people but quite shy as well. A couple of times we've been on the leash outside of the house but my road is relatively busy, and at lunch hour there was quite a few people. A neighbour mom with her 3 small children exited next door and that was a bit too much stimuli so she asked to be carried - funny how she already can stand on her back legs and motion upwards.

The socialization I see as the difficult part now, especially other dogs. She had stayed with both her parents and a brother up until I got her and I don't think she's met any other dog yet. My mate has a Russell puppy but it's very mouthy and energetic as fuck, not sure how great that meeting would be. I'd rather she'd meet an older and calmer dog?

[El_Frank]

Yeah, put yourself in a puppies place: you've been taken away from the only things you know, you're now on your own with new humans in a new place, seeing, hearing and smelling new things - it's scary! It's best to edge them into things rather than do the accidental 'flooding' mentioned earlier, of having too much all at once. Start with short walks around quiet roads/traffic and build it up over time as you can see that the pup is confident enough (you should be helping at this time too of course). The same goes for meeting people and other dogs. Noisy children, walking sticks, sunglasses, hats etc all are things to be learned about and to learn to have no fear of, but that depends on those experiences. And yes, the same with dogs. They will have experienced plenty of rowdy behaviour from their own litter mates as they chew each other half to death most of the time, and they do need to meet and feel comfortable with other more full-on dogs, but probably best to start with calmer interactions and again build it up/vary it going forward, all with you as steward overseeing and encouraging and hopefully reinforcing the good things. The earlier you get this under way and the more you keep up with it, hopefully mostly positive, the better the result should be with regards to your own dog.
But I'll give you a quick example of how it can go wrong. I've seen a pup taken to a puppy socialisation class and all the other pups were running all over the place, chaos. The pup in question didn't like that and was kinda hounded by some of the pups to the point it was clearly not enjoying the experience at all. The idea is for them to learn that other dogs are safe and fun and not to be feared, but this pup was not being noticed for what it was showing - fear. The pup, unsurprisngly grew into an adult dog that wasn't comfortable with other dogs. Not just from this one experience but repeated experiences largely based on that intial one when it was flooded by too much stimulation all at once from loads of other pups and those overseeing not realising that it was nothing but bad experiences.

[PaddingtonRed]

I don't usually post but here it goes. My 8 year old golden doodle has developed SARDS (Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome) over the past week, to see her go from her jumping around full of life to struggling to negotiate a couple of steps is heart breaking. She's currently on steroids in case it's an inflamed optic nerve but other than her drinking a lot more (she's had a few accidents which is totally unlike her since she was a puppy) but there's no sign of visual improvement. Has anyone had a dog go through a similar experience? I would love some advice to help make her life better. Ta.

[El_Frank]

When dogs go blind they struggle initially as it's understandably a bit of a shock and confusing, but they soon get used to it. Keep everything the same, don't move things unless they are likely to be a real hazard to her. She'll know the layout of the house and know all the smells so as long as things are as they were she'll know where she is soon enough, she just might bump into a few things for a little while.
She might be a bit more hesitant with other dogs given she won't be able to see any body language signalling from them anymore and she won't be signalling back either so keep that in mind as it can affect relationships between dogs (I've seen two cases of pairs of dogs where one has gone blind and the other has 'bullied' the blind one, likely due to the absence of communication as mentioned previously). She likely won't like a park situation with off-lead dogs running up to her. Otherwise keep her walks the same too. (I should probably also warn about kids or other people coming up to her quickly as obviously she won't know much about this and could be scared or defensive about things if these scenarios persist. So make sure anyone dealing with her is letting her know of their presence, and ideally have them call the dog to them rather than them going up to her).
You can put little markers out for her to help her identify certain areas like doorsteps for in and out, a mat or a bit of carpet so she can feel that she's getting close to the step etc. A ramp may help if she continues to struggle with steps.
But don't forget, she's still got the strong sense of smell, she's still got the acute hearing and she will be able to feel her way around so the only thing you really need to do is to perhaps be a bit more verbal now that she can no longer judge your own body language, and maybe with the drinking you can either limit what she can drink, or you'll have to give her more opportunities to go out.
Finally, I've seen a dog before that was on steroids for many months that was quiet as a mouse. As soon as he was off the meds he was a different dog, so also keep in mind the effects of medication versus what is a response to going blind.
Treat her much the same with all of these things in mind and as long as you put yourself in her place at times you should be fine going forwards.

[Nobby Reserve]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-62205744

Iran seeking to ban pet ownership. The insane cretins running the place view dog ownership in urban areas as a 'westernising' thing.

[Col]

Does anyone have any advice on how to train a dog to not bark at *everything* she sees, hears, or imagines exists outside the house?

She terrifies the baby multiple times a day and it's hard work

[WhereAngelsPlay]

Does anyone have any advice on how to train a dog to not bark at *everything* she sees, hears, or imagines exists outside the house?

She terrifies the baby multiple times a day and it's hard work

It's all about bribery mate,there's plenty of videos on utube university.

[El_Frank]

Does anyone have any advice on how to train a dog to not bark at *everything* she sees, hears, or imagines exists outside the house?

She terrifies the baby multiple times a day and it's hard work

What breed and age is she, how long has she done it for, when does she do this the most, and where is she when she usually does it?

[ChaChaMooMoo]

Does anyone have any advice on how to train a dog to not bark at *everything* she sees, hears, or imagines exists outside the house?

She terrifies the baby multiple times a day and it's hard work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwNe5COoGhk

This is one of the best videos I can recommend.

[El_Frank]

I've never heard of Nigel Reed but going from that video, he's well-meaning but quite muddled up in his thinking, which suggests he's not well trained himself. There are loads of things in that video where he either does the wrong thing or contradicts himself.

You see the dog barking at people outside. Nine times out of ten a dog that does this can see outside, i.e; it usually is either big enough to see out of the window or it sits by the window on a chair or something similar. Barking at things outside is a self-reinforcing behaviour because the dog sees something, barks at it, and it then goes away (because it's just passing by). The dog has therefore seen off the problem in his own eyes. 'That worked, I'll do it again next time'.
The key is to prevent the dog from getting into a situation where it can perform this self-reinforcing behaviour, so block the space by moving things so the dog can't stand guard at the window/door. This guy made out that his very presence at the window/door calmed/reassured the dog, but you see him taking the dog by the collar and leading it away (a good way to get a bite from redirected aggression, when it's true aggression that's involved). The dog didn't learn to calm, it learned that it was going to get dragged away, there's a subtle but very telling bit of body language at about the 6:30 mark to show this. He also mixes this in with a period of isolation (a time out) but doesn't say how long this is for either, either way it's mixing things up.
He also talks about the dog passing other dogs and it being a positive experience, yet he's physically pushing the dog away - completely counter-productive. He then mentions treats...which technique are you using man?!
He goes on to do a couple more contradictiory things himself and in the end we see a dog that is 'fixed'. What you've seen is very typical for shepherds, they are often misconstrued as being aggressive when they're more often than not just being vocal - two different things - and more often than not shepherds are fine with other dogs when allowed to meet and mix with them, but most people keep them away thinking they're going to rip other dogs to shreds.

My final point on this video is that he trained the dog with the owner elsewhere. The owner needs to be the one training the dog, so when she came back I'm guessing the exact same scenario happened to her and she probably got rid of the dog soon after (just a guess).

[ChaChaMooMoo]

To be honest, he does try to address a lot of issues in a 13 minute video, so that might be the reason for the muddling.

Having said that, I dont think he is completely wrong in his response. Dogs do need to feel safe and think they are safe under our eyes (alpha protecting the beta). So when a dog is barking unnecessarily, it is to ward off the so called percieved danger and/or calling us to protect the household. He has addressed both.

By physically pushing the dog away, he is probably asserting his dominance over the k9. I really cant think of anything else rational about it. And it reinforces the thought that we are in control of the situation and of them.

As for the training with/without the owner, I think its all semantics. Of course I would've expected the owner to do her fair share of training and that he is just a guidance teacher of sorts.

But despite the shortcomings, the essence of the video still holds I feel. It does give the owners some information on what goes on during the entire "barking always at home" issue.

[El_Frank]

He's got 13 minutes to show you what he wants to show you so the fact that there is a mixed message in there more than once should tell you enough. Also, the thing I highlighted about taking the dog by the collar and isolating it WILL lead to further problems down the line.
Dominance theory - which was never right to begin with, and the main promoter of that will tell you so himself - is many years out of date, and yes, you get that impression from this guy plenty (also his bio mentions something to do with Wolves, so no doubt he's got the wrong end of the stick on that because of this 'education').
Trust me, if you want to know how to deal with these things properly you need someone that is suitably qualified, which can be found via the APBC or ABTC (he doesn't appear to be on either). There are loads of people out there calling themselves behaviourists and the like who have only completed low quality courses etc.

This is the biggest problem when it comes to dogs, the most widespread 'knowledge' about them is wrong and based on something from 1970, kindly helped along by the likes of Cesar Millan. 

[Crosby Nick]

Question for when you have a puppy home for the first night...crate or no crate?

She’s been amazing all day. Chilled on the drive home, explored the house, followed us around a bit. Are her dinner, did a few wees outside. Quiet as a mouse.

Tried to put her in her crate and out of nowhere she whined loudly. Left her a few minutes, went in to reassure her and then popped out again. She’s been quiet for a few minutes now but still awake I think.

Best just to give ‘tough love’ like a newborn baby? She’s 11 weeks old and melted all our hearts already but don’t want the neighbours to hate me and for us all to turn into zombies!

[kavah]

^ good luck - we went for the no crate, next to our bed, the first night and then that lasted 12 years or so 

[Crosby Nick]

^ good luck - we went for the no crate, next to our bed, the first night and then that lasted 12 years or so 

Oof.

She went to sleep soon after actually. I slept downstairs like an idiot just in case she made more fuss but she slept through/was quiet until just before 6.

That’s still a bit of a shock to the system to be up at this hour but I can handle it. Now to stop her eating leaves/chewing the sofa before everyone else wakes up.

[SenorGarcia]

Oof.

She went to sleep soon after actually. I slept downstairs like an idiot just in case she made more fuss but she slept through/was quiet until just before 6.

That’s still a bit of a shock to the system to be up at this hour but I can handle it. Now to stop her eating leaves/chewing the sofa before everyone else wakes up.

The advice we were given was to make the crate our puppy’s favourite place. Put toys in there (keep swapping them around so it’s interesting), hide treats in there, ours eats in there. Our breeder gave us a small blanket that had the mum’s smell on it so that went in there too.
Our girl has just turned 1 and apart from the odd night where she wants to stay up a bit later, never has any issue in sleeping in her crate.

Good luck with everything.


Oh and in terms of the chewing, I highly recommend deer antlers.

[CraigDS]

Yeah ditto the above, make it a place only associated with fun / good things. Feeding in there certainly helped Norbert get used to it, and he was a twat at night in there for the first 3 or 4 days. He soon got used to it though and will now take himself off there if he wants some time out 

[CraigDS]

Also agree with antler chews, also bull horns (you can stuff these with stuff and freeze them too) and olive branches are great too.

[Crosby Nick]

Yeah we had her mum’s blanket in there and a little bed in the back half and kept the front half clear in case she needed the toilet. But she preferred sleeping on that bit in the end. She seems to favour lying on hard floors, probably a bit cooler in the heat.

All good though, and hopefully over the next few nights she’ll get more used to things.

[CraigDS]

Yeah mine won't lie on another soft for more than a few mins at the moment and will keep moving around the hard floor where it's much cooler.

[tubby]

When we got our dog in Feb, we originally shut him in the kitchen with an open crate that he travelled in because he wasn't house trained yet.  But the little guy spent two nights whining, crying and clawing at the kitchen door, so we relented and let him sleep in the lounge.  We put his bed in the spot he always ran too when something new and scary happened, and he was good there.  Pissed and shat on the floor during the night for a week or so, but since then he's been great.

[Crosby Nick]

Ok, so left her to cry for a bit tonight, then went down to reassure her to be greeted by the delightful whiff of dog shit. Poor thing has soiled the crate so had to clean out and try again.

[El Lobo]

Ok, so left her to cry for a bit tonight, then went down to reassure her to be greeted by the delightful whiff of dog shit. Poor thing has soiled the crate so had to clean out and try again.

What sort did you get?

We're getting a puppy on Thursday (miniature Schnauzer) so have all of this to come soon. We're hoping to go for sleeping in his crate but no doubt it'll be the same and he ends up by the bed after about an hour.

[CraigDS]

Best way I did crate training is...

Make sure you get a crate with a big enough area to have somewhere to sleep and somewhere to make a mess just in case. Before they go in make sure they gone the loo, then start with every 60-90 mins going down, waking them up and taking them outside. Repeat this every night but space out the gaps more and more as they show they're able to go longer.

Done this 3 times now and each time within 7-10 days they were going from around 12am to 6am without a problem.

Ignore their crying / barking otherwise and stick to the routine checks. If they learn their barking gets someone to come then you'll make it worse for yourself!!

[Crosby Nick]

What sort did you get?

We're getting a puppy on Thursday (miniature Schnauzer) so have all of this to come soon. We're hoping to go for sleeping in his crate but no doubt it'll be the same and he ends up by the bed after about an hour.

Labradoodle.

Best way I did crate training is...

Make sure you get a crate with a big enough area to have somewhere to sleep and somewhere to make a mess just in case. Before they go in make sure they gone the loo, then start with every 60-90 mins going down, waking them up and taking them outside. Repeat this every night but space out the gaps more and more as they show they're able to go longer.

Done this 3 times now and each time within 7-10 days they were going from around 12am to 6am without a problem.

Ignore their crying / barking otherwise and stick to the routine checks. If they learn their barking gets someone to come then you'll make it worse for yourself!!

Cheers. We got a decent sized crate and out a bed at the back half and left the front half free. The night we had the main problem, was partly because she sleeps on the hard base rather than the bed and then spiked that so got in a state.

We’ve also moved the crate from the kitchen (which she isn’t in much apart from sleeping in the crate) to the living room and we had it in there all day yesterday with the door open. She went in once and twice by herself so hopefully feels a bit more comfortable with it. We won’t necessarily keep her in there for ages, but just til she’s old enough to be trusted or to trash the place of left alone.

Last night we kept her in the garden for ages and eventually produced the goods. Far less whining last night, think she woke once in the night but settled herself then was up for the day about half 5.

[Crosby Nick]

Little legend went out like a light in her crate last night around half 10 and slept straight through to 5.45.

When she woke she took herself outside for a dump. Joyous scenes.

[hixxstar]

Here we go.....
Fireworks near and around me... but not just a family box of 'Standard Fireworks' .. no .. no..
more like Mortars or Cluster bombs 
I'm all for fun and family entertainment like but jeeeez... why so feckin loud..

My old Jack Russell 12yrs used to shiver and shake for ages... not too bad nowadays.. 

[CraigDS]

My old dog Arnie never bothered with fireworks. In fact so much so we could have him out for bonfire and he'd not flinch and be fine.

Norbert barks a little to them if they suddenly go off out of nowhere which they have been recently, however I always try to just pretend nothing is going on, maybe turn the TV or music up a tad louder and tell him all is ok and he tends to settle down.

Do think the less we react the less they do, but then I know there are dogs who are just so reactive to them regardless (my sister has a dog who is petrified of them).

[moondog]

Our beautiful Irish Terrier Peggy has taken a sudden downturn over the last 24 hrs. She is 14 and has lived a truly exceptional dog life, had 6 beautiful puppies even with a traumatic pregnancy, she has lived in California, swam on Malibu beach , walked round Beverly Hills and been to every park in Liverpool gathering compliments everywhere she went. Yesterday though her back legs have finally given up and she hasn’t been able to move since 6pm last night. (Why do these things happen Friday night after the vets close??) Shortly we have to go to the vets for maybe her final appointment and we are devastated that this looks like the end for her. We knew this day was approaching but it is so much harder than I expected. I love this dog so much.

[kavah]

Agh mate, heartbreaking that. Poor thing

[dalarr]

I’m sorry to hear that, mate. I truly am.

[moondog]

Thanks for your kind words, I would like to thank the brilliant staff and particularly the vet at Woolton Vets for looking after Peggy and us yesterday, they made one of the hardest moments into something peaceful and respectful. It doesn’t stop the pain of the loss but seeing her go so gently was a massive help to us . Obviously we had a very difficult day yesterday and waking up early to see the cat and our other Irish Terrier both asleep together in Peggy’s bed has broken me again this morning.

[tubby]

Just thought I'd see if anyone else's dog does this.  Whenever he hears anything in the back he rushes over to the door to be let out, but it's pissing down outside today so he doesn't actually go out, just looks into the garden through the open door.  But... when I close the door and he turns around to head back to his spot on the sofa, he shakes himself dry, even though he didn't actually get rained on, he just saw rain from inside.

[Broad Spectrum]

Just thought I'd see if anyone else's dog does this.  Whenever he hears anything in the back he rushes over to the door to be let out, but it's pissing down outside today so he doesn't actually go out, just looks into the garden through the open door.  But... when I close the door and he turns around to head back to his spot on the sofa, he shakes himself dry, even though he didn't actually get rained on, he just saw rain from inside.

Friends of mine worked at the Dogs Trust for years and they were taught that when dogs shake they're essentially 'shaking off their mood'. It's a simplistic take, but also fairly accurate as you'll often see dogs do it when they stop playing for example. Mine do it all the time when they've been rucking with each other and then stop (usually because I've barked at them to stop play-fighting!).

With yours, have you noticed if he does it regardless of the weather? One of mine is really territorial with my flat so whenever she sees dogs walking past outside her hackles will be raised and she'll growl, but once they've passed she always 'shakes it off' so to speak.