Puppy advice urgently needed!!

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

Thats ok, just when you are ready to change her food over you'll almost certainly see a difference. Our girl was on cseasers (sp) before she came to us and our boy too on Bakers, they stayed on that for a while but then i was talking to the vet about them being hyper and she said try Science Hill, we did, and it worked but was too expensive, so the cheaper and still very nutritional healthy option was JWB - its also fixed my westies sensitive skin problem so it's fab. When we bred our westie all the pups were weaned on to science hill, but i explained all to the new owners. That said i did get them vaccinated, wormed and fully vet checked before anyone was even allowed to view them...and i even said no to a few prospective buyers as i didn't think they'd cotinue to look after them to a high standard, lol!

Sound like she enjoyed her exploration though! Keep up the good work! x

sarabe

emsywoo123 wrote: »

We are feeding her on Bakers Puppy dry.

Absolutely the worst food you could possibly feed her.

I had been advised by Vet and other dog owners that she should not socialise before her 2nd Vacc?

You have to find a balance between physical health and mental health. Most vets now recognise the importance of socialising. The biggest killer of dogs is euthanasia for problem behaviour, behaviour that wouldn't have developed given the right start in life.

I run a training school and we encourage people to bring the pups from 8 weeks for training and for extra curriculum socialising.

I was advised against tug, something to do with control......not sure about this?

Tug is absolutely the best game you can play with your dog. Try and catch a glimpse of the agility dogs at Crufts this week on more 4 or the live streaming on line. See how much control those owners have and watch them all reward the dog with a game of tug at the end of the course.

At our puppy romps as well as socialsing with other pups, people, children, pushchairs etc all of lead the pups are taught to play tug with their owners every time they check in. So we have sociable dogs that can safely interact with other dogs but who will willingly return to their owners because the fun doesn't stop it just carries on.

We do isolate her as soon as she barks

Time spent in time outs is time wasted. Time that could be spent teaching her what you do want.

It is scientifically proven that we learn more from our successes than we do from our failures. Something to do with brainwaves changing when we are rewarded for doing good, yet they remain the same when we are punished or not rewarded for getting it wrong.

emsywoo123

sarabe wrote: »

Absolutely the worst food you could possibly feed her.



You have to find a balance between physical health and mental health. Most vets now recognise the importance of socialising. The biggest killer of dogs is euthanasia for problem behaviour, behaviour that wouldn't have developed given the right start in life.

I run a training school and we encourage people to bring the pups from 8 weeks for training and for extra curriculum socialising.



Tug is absolutely the best game you can play with your dog. Try and catch a glimpse of the agility dogs at Crufts this week on more 4 or the live streaming on line. See how much control those owners have and watch them all reward the dog with a game of tug at the end of the course.

At our puppy romps as well as socialsing with other pups, people, children, pushchairs etc all of lead the pups are taught to play tug with their owners every time they check in. So we have sociable dogs that can safely interact with other dogs but who will willingly return to their owners because the fun doesn't stop it just carries on.



Time spent in time outs is time wasted. Time that could be spent teaching her what you do want.

It is scientifically proven that we learn more from our successes than we do from our failures. Something to do with brainwaves changing when we are rewarded for doing good, yet they remain the same when we are punished or not rewarded for getting it wrong.

Yikes ok I am pregnant and quite possibly hormanl, but you are really coming accross as quite critical!:eek:

A) I explained why she is fed what she is fed, I was not to know that was wrong
I explained that she had not socialised due to vet advice
C) I explained why she did not play tug
d) I thought (probably incorrectly as it transpires) that it would be better to isolate her if she barks rather than react.

I appreciate all of your advice, but ask taht you do consider I am doing the best that I can on all the advice that I have been given!

With regards to the barking to attract attention, what action would you take to stop/prevent this?

Many thanks.

catlou

emsywoo123 wrote: »

Yikes ok I am pregnant and quite possibly hormanl, but you are really coming accross as quite critical!

Don't take it personally if you look back at Sarabe posts it's her job training pups and she really knows her stuff. Everyone has a different opinion on these things and she is just giving you her advice on what she thinks will help pup the most in the long run.

Also from how she describes them wish I had been to her puppy classes they sound loads better than the ones I went to

Re the Bakers thing it really is the worst food that you could give so people only want you to know that as changing food can make a massive difference to a dogs behaviour, which as long as you do it gradually say changing over 10 days it's an easy thing to do. With the premium dog foods you feed less of them as the quality is better so it's not necessarily going to cost any more. My pup's behaviour changed loads when I switched foods. My only regret is that I didn't change it sooner :mad: he went from being hyper at times to being calmer overall and lively as opposed to manic! :rotfl::rotfl:

Good luck with her and the bubba and Enjoy they grow Sooo fast! :eek:

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

Don't worry - it's all a learning curve hun, don't take it too personally! As Sarabe said she runs a training school so clearly has had alot of experience. The general dog owner like you and i learn over time, and yes sometimes get things wrong but it's not the end of the world.

The food isn't good ( i only know from personal experience and i used to use it too so i certainly won't lecture you on it ), if you can change her then great but do it while you have time...it takes about a week to introduce it in gradually but it's easily done. I'm not saying chuck out that bag of Bakers right now, by all means use it up and when you have time look into something better.

The tug thing, i have one dog who does like to play tug and one who'd rather not so it goes both ways. As long as they learn to obey you and if for example listen when you tell them to drop the toy/ball then by all means it's fine to play tug - if you start seeing agression, like them going a bit crazy and deffensive when tugging then it's best not to as it could mean they have a very strong prey instinct and are not seeing it as a game, but instead a kill. Sounds scary but very rare. As long as you are 'Alpha dog' you should never have this prob.

As i listened to my vet, my dog did go out for walks before her second vaccine but if we encountered another dog we crossed the road or i picked her up before we got close and then politely explained if a passing dog owner commented. She actually didn't have her full course for a while after as she would get sick after the first and then couldn't have her second - it took a while before she actually got her full course and then when she was finally able to meet other dogs we didn't have a prob with socialising. Our boy, fully vaccinated and socialised from young simply doesn't like other dogs (not all do), so we just work around it, he gets walked at times like early morn or late eve - or if he does go out during the day and encounter other dogs, as soon as i see him taking interest (ears up and all) he has to sit, look at me and become submissive and i keep his attention until they pass. It works for us and him (but dog trainers might tell me different obviously)! Basically you just need to keep an open mind and you'll be ok!

A bit of bran training - like the games i said before are good for tireing them out mentaly, and a great way of training her to pay attention too for longer and longer periods of time. They are rewarding for you too, spesh when they learn new tricks or they surprise you by being extra clever, lol!

As for the barking...i have a terrier, known for their barking. We just give her a sharp 'Shhh!' and stand in front of her if she does and stay silent - they soon realise hey that was wrong and want your attention so calm down. If she barks at the door/postman, her fave, then i let her (naughty but it lets me know someones there as our doorbell is on the blink - and it deters people who i don't want around ) but she is only allowed to let me know, if she carries on, i stop in between her and the door, do the 'shh!' and tell her out...then i'm clear to open the door. Again it might not be what a dog trainer tells you to do but it works for us!!!

I don't know if you have Sky/Virgin Media - but The Dog Whisperer is quite an interesting watch - you don't have to take on all of the advice but often you can learn little tips from him or notice nice little things you have already instilled in your dog that he is advising!

Good luck hun! Lol, don't worry about the pregnancy hormones....you share them with me, i keep jumping down peoples throat if they say something i don't like to me at the mo, haha! x

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

And running around with them is crazy fun - or maybe thats just me, lol! I end up chasing them, they chase me - we steal the ball off of each other and we usually all end up wrestling on the ground, them licking me sensless....lol so maybe overstimulating but it's fun, and they know to stop once i get up and say so.

I don't know, but i say follow basic guidlines but what you do with the dogs doesn't have to be rigourously to the book - as long as you have control, have fun too!

KVet

What treatment/investigation has she undergone for the cough? What are they thinking it is?

sarabe

Sorry if you thought I was being critical. It was not my intention at all. Just here to help.

As to what I would do about the barking - I'd reward no barking.

The tug thing, i have one dog who does like to play tug and one who'd rather not so it goes both ways. As long as they learn to obey you and if for example listen when you tell them to drop the toy/ball then by all means it's fine to play tug - if you start seeing agression, like them going a bit crazy and deffensive when tugging then it's best not to as it could mean they have a very strong prey instinct and are not seeing it as a game, but instead a kill. Sounds scary but very rare. As long as you are 'Alpha dog' you should never have this prob.

Again no criticism intended but playing tug does not makes dogs aggressive. They may get over the top with excitement but that is not aggression. The best way to make sure that they don't got too worked up is to simply let them have the toy when they tug hard. Then they either bring it back to tug again or drop it once you've stopped making it exciting or you have a second toy which you make more exciting than theirs.

The higher the prey drive in a dog the more you should play tug with your dog to channel that prey drive.

The Alpha dog thing has been scientifically disproved over and over again in the last twenty years.

We are not dogs and our dogs know we are not dogs so we can't be an alpha dog. We can be a good owner and own all the resouces and train our dogs using access to these resources as rewards but we really do not need to be an Alpha.

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

Thanks Sarabe - just giving my own opinion, as i said i am no proffesional, just a dog owner for most of my life. The alpha dog thing does work in our house so that's why i suggested it, its a rank thing, we ensure our two know their place and that all of the humans are higher than them, they are even self ranked with teh female being higher than our boy, it doesn't make them fight or anything and they are extremely affectionate to one another, just boy respects girl if she has a toy or something and will play with it after she has decided she no longer wants to play with it.

Our dogs don't get treats as such day in day out - just a pigs trotter or the like once a while, they get attention instead and thrive well off of it. I used to do the whole treat thing but it is expensive and then once they have done something they are always actively looking for a treat. Now affection is enough and we have respect and they aren't looking for treats all day.

I didn't mean getting over-excited with a tug toy, i meant the prey instinct kicks in and they get possesive, we have seen it early on with our girl. She'd do a deep growl if you tried to take it and then run off and shake it like crazy, in the way which terriers kill their prey (i.e the way jack russells kill the rats on farms), she hasn't done it for years thank god as i think we have kicked it out of her. The kill instinct thing is something you have to watch - it's not neccessarily a bad thing but you need to be aware of it. We do the 'owning' the item and she has to drop it and give it up straight away if we say so - this is important to us as we have natures ultimate enemies in a terrier and a bunny...if we hadn't instilled this in her she would most deffinately have caught and shook the bun to death by now. She still has the desperate urge to chase the bun if they are out together, but doesn't instead because we have control, you can see her itching to but her obey side seems to be stronger. As i said, you have to do what works for you - a dog trainer might have told me to leave her to shake and 'kill' the tug toy when playing, but then i'm sure we'd have lost bunny by now if we listened. Honestly, i did also see Cseaser Millan advising the same thing on one of his shows recently (maybe yesterday in fact) so it has only made me feel more confident that i have done the right thing purely for our situation - i know so many dog trainers can't stand the man, but he does have quite a few good tips, and i know many people who have spent ridiculous amounts on dog trainers to never get anywhere.

That said i do know of some fab dog trainers too where we live now, none have ever offered to train my dogs so i must be doing something ok Socialising classes sound like a good idea though!

Sagz_2

:T:T:T:T

sarabe wrote: »

You have to find a balance between physical health and mental health. Most vets now recognise the importance of socialising. The biggest killer of dogs is euthanasia for problem behaviour, behaviour that wouldn't have developed given the right start in life.

:T:T:T:T

Thank you Sarabe.