Inherited Dog - Australia

lostinrates

Generali wrote: »

There are plenty of shady spots she can get into including under the house and she has a couple of places where she's sort of rubbed away the grass and she covers herself in dust (possibly to act as a sunscreen?).

She's from Darwin so she should be pretty used to the heat. I just wanted to check as an acquaintance's dog died on Sunday in the hot weather.

I'd spray her with the hose to cool her down but it freaks her out. She really hates it.

A damp towel to lie on? suddenly spraying with cold water is probably not the best way to go..;0) Most important is probably to keep her calm and quiet..no mad ball games, feed her early morning/late night and not in the heat of the day.

My guess is she's a tough little thing.

Generali

lostinrates wrote: »

My guess is she's a tough little thing.

Yeah, she's tough.

She's a tropical dog living way outside the tropics.

She lives outside all the time and has been fed food in the past of very variable quality.

She's had no training and has been badly treated for a part of her life yet has a really good temperament.

She's great. And tough.

Generali

Just a quick update.

Training's going pretty well. She now responds to 'sit', 'come here', 'grub's up', 'get down' (from jumping up at me and also down from the deck into the garden) and 'b*gger off'.

Tea making isn't going so great as she tends to rip the tea bags and struggles with the top of the milk bottle. Perhaps I should teach her to bring me cold beer instead.

foreign_correspondent

hey that is loads - well done you! I cant believe you tell that lovely little dog to b*gger off though! lol

If you master the tea making thing do let me know - I keep telling Badger to pop the kettle on, but she takes no notice!

lostinrates

Generali, that is superb! You obviously have a knack. A lot of people who have been dog owners before struggle with less than that. She is obviously responding well, which suggests she's enjoying it....so keep thinking of stuff.

There is no end to the stuff you can teach....tricks are fun, but useful stuff too. If my dogs were brighter I would certainly teach them to find the car keys...those things always go walkabout.

tea making? Not advisable: they always get dog hair in it

Wine_of_the_World

trudij wrote: »

If there is a in your garden - she should stay away

(sorry wine of the world - couldnt resist!!!! )

He he, that was a funny typo. :rotfl:

Generali

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

hey that is loads - well done you! I cant believe you tell that lovely little dog to b*gger off though! lol

Well it's the local vernacular so it seems reasonable to teach her that. I don't want her only speaking English, she needs the local tongue.

lostinrates wrote: »

Generali, that is superb! You obviously have a knack. A lot of people who have been dog owners before struggle with less than that. She is obviously responding well, which suggests she's enjoying it....so keep thinking of stuff.

There is no end to the stuff you can teach....tricks are fun, but useful stuff too.

My new thing is getting her to respond to my 4 y/o son. We just started today. Same words, different voice. It's good in two ways as it brings Edward in contact with Lady more (he used to be terrified of dogs as he was born in Central London and never saw them for the first 2 or 3 years of his life) and also because I am using it to teach him to be more assertive (he started off today asking Lady if she fancied sitting down perhaps, he ended telling her to sit).

Generali

trudij wrote: »

If there is a in your garden - she should stay away

(sorry wine of the world - couldnt resist!!!! )

We get red backs, funnel webs and red bellied black snakes in the garden. Surely not bears too!!!

foreign_correspondent

Generali wrote: »

My new thing is getting her to respond to my 4 y/o son. We just started today. Same words, different voice. It's good in two ways as it brings Edward in contact with Lady more (he used to be terrified of dogs as he was born in Central London and never saw them for the first 2 or 3 years of his life) and also because I am using it to teach him to be more assertive (he started off today asking Lady if she fancied sitting down perhaps, he ended telling her to sit).

My 6 y/o niece loves 'training' my dog - obviously, I closely supervise, but let her use a dog biscuit and ask the dog to 'sit' then she rewards her - she loves it, she thinks she has taught the dog something new every time, and Badger loves anything that involves biscuits!

Do be watchful about how the little one offers the treat though and how Lady takes it - if you have any concerns that Lady could accidentaly nip the little ones fingers it may be better for your son to drop the treat to the floor for her to pick up!

lostinrates

brilliant, for both lady and Gen Junior!