iPom

Oh I had a springer for years - deaf as a post she was, poor love. The owner had partially trained her as a hunting dog and then he'd died suddenly and she'd been returned to the pound. As a result she was totally insecure. When we got her she was neurotic, but with some serious training, she was a beautiful dog.
Have you seen beagle rescue?

http://www.beagleclubnsw.org.au/rescueF.htm

Simone

Looks good, but NSW is a bit far
I'll keep an eye out here (and there might even be a beagle rescue here), but not in any hurry.

My parents spaniel was very sweet, and incredibly lazy. wasn't a typical springer! Quite boring really, for us as kids! But oh so sweet, and gentle, and cute. He got to about 12 years old I think, we had to put him down a few years ago.

iPom

Beagle rescue lists dogs from all over Aus.

Rudi

Oh that is sad you can't have the dog you wanted.

Good luck

Rudi
x

stevemich

You may want to check these out - just saw them on Sunrise!!

http://www.valleyviewdogs.com/spoodle-pictures.htm

ahhhh....

iPom

They're cute all right, but the rescue homes are flooded with moodles, spoodles, woodles, and all other 'oodles you can think of. I personally think breeding these dogs is a problem because they're a fashion accessory, no matter how cute. Look through the listings in the dog rescue places and you'll see them all. It's very sad.

stevemich

Like you said, it is very easy for dogs to become accessories and it is very sad.
The "dog is for life, not just Christmas" phrase, although overly familiar, is even more relevant these days...

Our Cocker Spaniel is gorgeous, so we will stick with her!!

Good luck finding one

iPom

Thanks sm.. I'm sure I will. I've found a 6 year old beagle this morning who's from the pound near Lithgow. He's an 'indoor/outdoor' sort of dog, it says. I will keep checking them out.

webgum

Some friends of ours have a great dane puppy - HUGE. She recently ate a football sock (unbeknownst to owners) and became very unwell. Emergency surgery revealed the sock, partially unravelled and twisted around her gut. 4 hours later, she was still alive, owners hugely relieved and coming to terms with a $2500 vet bill. EEEK :scared:

melibeam

We now have our lab Daisy just over two months. We decided on a pure bred labrador because we wanted to be sure her parents were vet checked for hip and eye problems etc. This, although not being a guarantee that a puppy wont suffer from these problems, the chances are if the parents are healthy, the puppy will be too. Also as was mentioned before, if we have any problems we can contact the breeder.

She cost $800, vaccinations $130, food $40 per month approx, toys, bed, collar and lead $150. Victoria Cannine Association $120 (to transfer her registration into our names). Microchip and council registration $55. We dont have insurance for her and dont think I will bother.

She is very cute and gorgoeous but is destroying our house. She eats anything left lying around, and things not left lying around too, as she has just started to chew bits out of the walls and the blinds. We give her loads of toys and chews but she still prefers shoes, cables, walls. She ate my 7 year old sons school portfolio yesterday and I have to see his teacher this afternoon (supposed to be bringing said portfolio for discussion)!!!

Having said that we all love her and she is keeping us fit by taking us for walks.

Mel

Aussiecat

That sounds like brilliant advice Ipom, i will try that with our 11 month pup Jasper as he chews anything left lying around & he has just discovered the window frame!
Did it come from a book? if so, which one? We need some extra help with our main problem of him pinching food off the kitchen bench when my back is turned.
if i say Ah Ah & leave the room at that point, he will just scoff the lot!

If anyone else has any ideas, they will all be greatly appreciated. Thanks

iPom

LOL - oh dear. No it didn't come from a book or none that I know of. It's just the way my parents trained our dogs and how I've learned from them how to do it. I am sure some googling on dog training or dog psychology will bring you up something ... it's no big secret... Here -quick google and you can find all sorts:
http://www.canismajor.com/dog/alltopic.html#Ttrain

Shock tactics might be what you need for your dog. If the 'Ah AH!' doesn't work, try a very high pitched noise, call or whistle. Anything shockingly loud will do it actually, because dogs don't like sudden, loud and distracting noises. You might feel like a bit of a lemon doing it, but forget that if you want to keep your window frames.
You'll have to supervise him and everytime you see him going for the window frame, just giving it a sniff or whatever, then do your loud noise... a very high pitched 'Yelp' should do it, like a dog squealing! Basically if this doesn't make your dog turn around and look at you, I'd get his ears checked!
Once he's stopped sniffing and is looking at you, you walk out of the room briskly like there's something major going on and he should follow you. Try and avoid eye contact with your dog through this whole process... giving him eye contact basically says 'I approve' so that's the last thing you want to indicate. Wait a moment with him, then back in. Tell him to 'sit'. Then give him a tiny titbit reward (a little chicken or something quick he'll chuck down) and lots of praise. Repeat this and eventually he should lose his focus quite quickly. Essentially you've changed the situation from something he wanted to do to something you wanted him to do.

As for the scoffing food, then I'd change tack a little. If he's doing this and then getting bannished or whatever, it's effectively giving him praise. He doesn't care what kind he gets. So, when you see him sitting in the kitchen, or doing something he's meant to be doing, then give him a titbit then and lots of praise. Essentially, he won't get titbits for bad behaviour but you should praise him all the time you see him doing regular dog things.... If he sits, praise him. If he's chewing his bone, give him praise, if he's playing, give him praise... if he does something to command, give him praise.
It rather sounds like he's pleasing himself rather than pleasing you, which is the situation you want to avoid. If you praise him all the time for doing dog things, there should be no reason for him to do the stealing because he now knows how to get treats, Eventually you can drop the treat frequency and just give stroking rewards because he's linked praise with food in his mind and either will do.

If he does get something off, really lower your voice to a growly tone, put your hackles up by lowering your head and give him a stare. It's usually enough , but if he's really bad, you might have to shake him lightly with his ruff at the back of the neck whilst 'growling' at him. I dont' know what you usually do to discipline him but shouting or saying 'no!' is like saying 'Blah blah blah blah' to a dog, To get your message across, learn to speak 'dog'.
To him, you're the pack leader and the reason he's taking food might be because he's not taking you seriously. In dog packs, the top dog eats first ... and he's usurping this behaviour by stealing food! He may be unsure of where he stands in the pack, or simply he may have decided to not follow your commands because he's distracted, or possibly he doesn't understand it's wrong... or he may even be bored, surprisingly. It's difficult for me to tell from a distance.

So, action plan:

Loud noise to distract.
No eye contact
Take him out of the room with you
Bring him back
Make him 'sit' and feed him titbit with lots of praise ...
Positive re-enforcement when he's doing the right thing and lots of praise.

To ensure that he sees you as pack leader, pick his bowl up when you feed him, and put the food in. Whilst he's watching you, pretend to eat a few mouthfulls of his food- pick up with fingers and put in your mouth ... don't look at him. Take your time and look like you're really enjoying it. You'll find he might whine or look a little shocked. That's fine. Then when you are happy, put his bowl down so he can eat. You'll just have given him the message that he is beneath you and you're the top dog. This might not cure his stealing, but it's worth a try. Everyone in your house should pretend to eat from his bowl before he does and this way, it's a very fast and sucessful way of establishing pack order.

Another thing you can do is put up a baby gate and keep him out of the kitchen. I know it sounds obvious, but he shouldn't be in there if it's too tempting. Whilst he sits outside the gate, give him lots of praise and titbits every time he does his thing. After a few days of gate treatment, remove the gate but put a piece of tape there across where he should stay behind. Every time he comes in to you, do the 'Ah AH!' noise and shuffle towards him closely. He should shuffle backwards if you shuffle forwards. When he's in 'his' area, then give him a titbit and praise him. Repeat until he gets it.

If you can put his basket or rug on the other side in the kitchen, or a crate or cage, so he knows where to go to get praise (because you've given him titbits when he's gone there) then he'll have more of an idea where to go.
I wouldn't punish him in his basket or whatever you use... it should be in theory, his 'room' not somewhere to go when he's been bad.

I could waffle on this for hours, so I won't but I am sure if you google for dog training, you'll be able to find loads of this stuff.

Good luck.

Simone

Ipom, thank you, that's great advice, and all makes sense!

I've been meaning to google this kind of stuff for ages, but you know.... keep forgetting, other things to do....

Thanks again!


(in his first week Bailey stole a chicken breast from the kitchen bench! Forgot about that already, though I do always be more careful now!)

iPom

Well as he's only young it should be fairly easy to get him out of it. If it continues, it will be somewhat of a pain to deal with constantly. Remember, he's only doing it because you're allowing it, bottom line!

Good luck!

breezeboylan

iPom, (or anyone else in the know), have you any advice on how to stop my mad German Shepard trying to ex cape at every opportunity she can. We have had her since a pup, she's five now and we absolutely love her to bits. She is the most friendly dog you could ever meet, always happy, great with other dogs and people. When she goes for a walk she can walk of the lead and comes back when called but and it's a big but, if the door,gate or window is left open she's off!! She won't come back until shes ready or caught. I would dearly love to be able to open the front door and go into the garden with her just pottering around like I see so many other people do. Our biggest worry is that when she's charges out of an open door like some kind of lunatic that she will run out under a car. It's not like she doesn't get enough exercise or attention cause she does. Any suggestions.
Tracie