DogPaddle

Hmmm, no a cruise is probably not the place for a puppy. Sounds like fun. It's great that your mom is close by and can stop in.

Kindergarden is such a great place, you learn the best things there. Isn't there some poster or poem or something about that - everything I learned I learned in Kindergarden or something. I think anyone who wants to should be in our Kindergarden. Even if they weren't allowed to attend elsewhere. [color=red][size=6]Crayons, cookies and milk for everyone![/size][/color]

We have fostered one dog so far - Tyr, very hard to let him go but also worth it. We think we will start looking for our next foster when Zaphod is at least 6 months, that way he'll have all his shots and we'll have finished his first obedience class. We hope to foster at least one dog a year, maybe two depending on how long each foster stays. It was great helping Tyr come out of his shell and teaching him basic obedience and housetraining so he would be ready to go to his new home. I think that should be a major role of foster homes. Dogs from bad homes or who have been in shelter for too long start reacting to it, they behave in ways that fool people into thinking they wouldn't be a good per - excessive barking (they desperately want attention) or ignoring people (their dejected) or messing inside (they live in dog runs, nowhere else to mess), etc. Get a dog out of a shelter or bad home so you can work through whatever issues you can so possible adoptive homes can see what a great dog the foster could be.

If possible I would leave your guy at home. Loosing a pal and then being sent to a strange place with a bunch of strangers would possibly be stressful. Have your mom stop buy as often as she reasonably can and stay for a bit each time, even if its just to watch a tv show, having someone hanging around for a bit and doing normal stuff is reassuring if your dog knows your mom and she acts normal the dog may presume everything is fine. Have your mom leave out favorite toys, leave classical music playing while she can't be there, play or go for a walk at least 1x per day. Other possible options: 1. Talk to the kennel you want to use, see if its ok to take your guy out there a couple times a week for a month or so for a play session, lunch, whatever, let him get used to the place, also see if you can leave him there for an hour or two just so he gets the idea you'll come back. 2. Where are you going on vacation? Can all appropriate arrangements be made so the dog can safely come along?

Every dog is different. Your dog might be rejuvinated and very happy to have a new pup/freind in the house. On the other hand your dog might be an old crumedgeon and not appreciate little wippersnappers disrupting his routine. Do you have a freind who has a youngish dog who might bring it over to visit and see how your dog reacts?

courtnek - I thought dogs could see limited colours - blues, greens, yellows, greys, blacks, whites and they can colour differentiate for the colours they "can't see" based on the shade or intensity of blue/green/yellow/grey/black/white it shows up as for them???? sheesh - A freind of mine has a GSD who used to have a fear of black dogs after a very rough experience with a big black dog as a pup. (He outgrew it with a little help.) How have your dogs socializations gone, any bad experiences? I agree on the dominance issue, no matter what the issue or cause, you dog needs to know your the boss. It doesn't have to be a struggle of wills or a grrr thing. We just made Kavik do something before he got a treat, went out, played kong etc. For example to go out to play kong Kavik had to "sit" at the back door and let us go out first, then when released he could come out in the yard, then when I put my hand on the gate latch he had to sit in his spot (paticular spot for going out) and wait till I was outside the gate and said ok, then he could come out and play. The whole process just keyed him up more for the kong game, it was a trick, something fun. That worked just fine for us, good thing too, I would have hated to give up letting him sleep on the bed :) .

Well whatever the case, it sounds like your still making progress so keep up all the work you've been doing and congrats. Its great to see especially given how precarious your pups positions was less than a month ago.

I viewed a few sites before I joined this one. Reasons I chose this board: [color=green][size=6]1) People are freindly and knowledable.[/size][/color] 2) There were few flamers or trolls. 3) People expressed there opinions well. 3) The site was well organized and covered a variety of topics. People here answered my questions, helped me, didn't flame me, asked questions if I didn't explain myself fully. They didn't become my bestest freinds and flock to me for guidance just because I joined this forum. K is a valuable member of this site, almost everyone here knows that, nothing else to say on that topic. Anywho I think we should all have cookies an milk now, who's turn is it too read the storey?

There could still be a problem or it could be a learned behav. to manipulate you. To be safe you could rule out any physial problems and then work on the behav. If it is puppy manipulation you may have to ignore the screaming to ensure your not rewarding behaviours you want to eliminate. You could reward her after she's stopped for a bit and give her whatever she wanted before.

Maybe something in your home is exaserbating (sp?) the behaviour problem? Change in your behaviour? Other people in the house? Paticular training? Paticular scents? Some perfumes or "scented" products (many colognes/perfumes/scents are actually volitile organic compounds) can have neurological, respiratory, or other effects on humans including headaches and moodiness so I presume the same is true for dogs, perhaps more so.

Duck will be fine. Perhaps beefore you chip Duck just inquire with the company or vet, they'll probably have further info for you about relocating internationally.

Be very careful with plastic, if the dog consumes it it can make him very ill, paticularly if the plastic is at all flexable. Plastic is naturally rigid, they add polyvinyl chlorides to it to make it flexable, this is very bad for dogs and people.

I think all pups are different. Kavik was 14 weeks before he began to grasp sit, Zaphod sat at 9 weeks. Kavik learned down as soon as we brought him home, I despair of Zaphod ever learning it. Like others said, make it fun for both of you, keep at it. :) PS I think that the strange poster is just trying to make a pest of themselves, perhaps we should avoid feeding the wildlife.

Kavik is very kong motivated and we just wouldn't throw it till he brought it right to our hand. We did hold our hand out to him, below his mouth and say drop to start. Unfortunately we started this training in doors. Kavik will return to hand freqently (paticularly if I'm watching tv) in the house but never outside. :roll:

Really . . . you want 10 pits . . . :o wouldn't that be a bit much for anyones sanity Sasha. 10 bouncy, playful, get anywhere, get into anything tightly packed bundles of high high energy in your house, you must [size=6][color=blue]REALLY[/color][/size] love them.

Thanks, will try the clicker and treat method. If he never takes to swimming so be it but he has such a good time retreiving from the water when he can wade I've just gotta try.

Oh they grow so fast. Last week Zaphod was running into the chairs. Just now he stole Kavik's bone ran under the seat, neatly hopping over the chair rung while pulling his head down to avoid being brained and made a sharp turn to escape upstairs. Very nice, of course Kavik has his bone back already but still. Hmmm anyone ever take two dogs too agility with just one handler, maybe my brother will help.

Anyone got any tricks to help me encourage Kavik that bouyancy is not a bad thing. He will wade but not swim, loves to retrieve items from the water and will actually put things in the water himself so he can retrieve them but will not swim for them. We have tried going out into the water passed where he will wade and calling to him but he just cries on shore and makes me feel like I am a cruel momma.

Best toy Kong with a tablespoon of PB or spreadable cheese (many brands have less salt, fat and sugar than PB.) Keeps them chewing and occupied. Also good - dental kong, kong with cotton rope through it. And/or cloth/towel with your scent on it for bedding - be prepared to loose this towel, should have no tags, stitching etc. For best effect this item should be accidentily left on or near the crate as your busy getting ready to go out so the dog can pull it through the bars and take revenge on you for leaving it alone. :oops: :lol:

Try allowing him to get used to the crate with you there as well as the other things you are already doing. (Keep up the work and remanin consistant) Both Kavik and Zaphod would fuss when we first started crating them. We did what you are doing - leaving them in the crate for longer and longer periods starting with very short periods. We also made sure that we let them out only when they were quiet even if this meant standing by the crate so we could open the door in that split second they were quiet. We also would sometimes put the crate in the living room while we were watching tv and put the dog in for a few minutes. With Zaphod the cage had to be no more than 2 cm from us but it does allow them to get used to the crate without fear of being left. Kavik and Zaphod will go into their crate to nap all on their own now and willing go to the crate when we say crate - granted it took Kavik nearly a year and Zaphod may just be following Kavik but its still improvement. Good luck.

Whenever my brother and roommate start horseplay, roughplay or as like to call it "recreational beating the tar out of each other" with each other not the dog (men are extrordinarily strange to me) Kavik starts to bark, lately he has started to lunge at them. No biting but I am concerned of course. Now I am pretty sure it would be much easier to train my dog than my brother, the dog being smarter and more amiable. But on the other hand if the dog is constantly exposed to something which I'm guessing he sees as a struggle for the alpha position maybe I'm fighting a loosing battle. So do I train the brother or do I train the dog? Any suggestions how?

Try engaging the dog in play while its engaging in the obsessive behavour. Try to pick or makeup a game that is of the same intensity as the original behaviour and something you will both enjoy. More than one game would be good. Also give it a bit of time, she may sort it out after a bit. Tyr - the only rescue I've dealt with, used to be tied to the back door on a 3ft leash, when we brought him home he didn't run or play in the house for the first month.

To my understanding some dogs are just more or less inclined to obey. While some may only need a flat collar others might need a halti/gentle leader or a choke or prong. Personally I'd want to start with the flat collar and leave myself somewhere to go if that didn't work. Maybe use a halti if it becomes nec or a choke or prong if it seems nec. or helpful.

Meehs - Thanks for the advice and for thinking of the rest of us even at a time like this. I know I'll be putting Kavik in the other room from now on. Kavik always runs to the door barking wanting to greet the pizza guy. He means no harm but he has made the situation difficult and one pizza guy was Islamic? and very much did not want to meet Kavik. (Islamics?, some or all?, believe it is unclean/sin to be touched/licked by a dog, I think) I would save myself alot of trouble and make the pizza guy much happier if I put Kavik in another room breifly. Best of luck with your pup, I'm so sorry. Keep us posted.

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