Dog Owners Please Advise What You Would Do If :

[HiddenIcon]

You really disliked your dog but your dh and children liked it.

She craps all over the floor each morning, eats the cat poo [unless I am cats bottom to catch poo], her hair is white so all over uniforms, adding 10 minute onto each item, when ironing.

She runs aways, only when I am on my own with her [refusing to to come back], she attacks other dogs, [again only when with me]she eats trainers, skirting boards, my washing basket, and the cats toys, the dc toys.

Would you keep her, just because your dc said they would be sad, if she were re-homed?

TIA

And training wears them out like exercise. It exhausts them all the concentrating etc.

We often play with ours in the house when its too wet or cold to take them out.
We play hide and seek the toy or dads sock.
Dogs sit/stay while i hide the sock. They are then told to find it. They love this. I dont hide it that hard, usually poking out from under a cushion or alike. So its not too hard.
I also do training in the house (although outside in a field is best) if i cant get out with them. Sit/stays, down/stays, sit/stand and so on.
They usually will be knackered after a good hour of playing or training at home.

Thanks Haychee I must have xposted with you.

Some great advice.

generally the only people who visit are family and they are the worst for saying "oh just leave her" and she dives onto their laps.

I will now tell them, I am attempting to get her to stop this so they must ignore her completely.

Do they really all eat poo?

I think I may get the cat a enclosed litter-tray after christmas too.

Our family dog did used to roll in the local farmers fields and come back covered in sheep/cow poo!

Our 2nd dog (dog1s son) is now 15months old and chews EVERYTHING!
Every corner in the hose has been chewed. He has chewed, electric cables, tables, chairs, toys, shoes, stairs, plaster off walls, has emptied entire kitchen cupboards and contents chewed.

Our dog trainer/behaviourist suggested changing his food, which we did and he still chews.
I bought a muzzle in the end. I dont like him to wear it and he hates it but needs must. Its not wise to leave a dog uzzled for any length of time, so i try to only make quick trips out, cos he only chews when i leave the house.

Yes Snoop tends to do this at night when we are in bed. She sleeps in her bed in the kitchen [next to radiator] when I think she would prefer to be in the livingroom, on the new suite!

What type of your dog haychee? Very unusual.

Try a basket muzzle haychee - the dog can still bark/drink/pant but can't chew. Much kinder than a Mikki or similar, especially if they have to be left alone. Or a crate ... ?

The stinkier the poo, the better.
Its like dog perfume!
Dogs love stinky stuff, anything as lojng as it stinks.

Dog2 found a rotting fish when we alked by the lake in the summer! Soo gross. I could not get him to leave it, or drop it! He had found the ultimate prize, like us winning the lottery.
The more i asked him/told him to drop it the more he thought it was a game and the more proud og himself he was trotting around with this fish.
I distracted him in the end by throwing a stick and kicking the fish out of sight while he wasnt looking.

Could of killed him!
He had to get in my car to get home - i was NOT imressed!

Yes i did have one of thise sock type muzzles at fisrt, but have now got a basket one - he is much happier in that, but still hates it.

Breed of mine are weimeraners.

Oh yes, forgot about the sofa, yes he chewed the sofa too, actually so bad it was irrepariable. Just replaced it with another one, but now we use the muzzle i dont have to worry.

Im sure he will grow out of the chewing dog1 did, but she was never as bad as her son!

Sometimes dogs really are a pain,and what makes it even more frustrating is that it's pretty much always the humans who are causing the problems!

Training classes should be fun and informative. Have you seen the APDT website? It may be a helpful place to start.

I think that learning Dog is an ongoing thing. Dogs are pretty bad at learning Human. There are a couple of dog mags that sometimes have helpful information - Dogs Today and Your Dog. The contributors often run their own training establishments and are quite easy to contact. It's important to find someone helpful who suits you.

I hope I'm not butting in and sounding too bossy. Really sorry if I am! I hope it all goes well. It's no fun when you don't like an animal.

not bossy all advice greatly appreciated.

haychee he sounds adorable.

I think I need to lighten up a bit tbh!

Time for walkies.

Bribery and corruption goes a long way with dogs! Your dog will probably really like games or food. One of the things about dog training is to make yourself the most important exciting thing in your dog's life!!!

Once you get going, it really is an up-and-up spiral. You're pleased with your dog, your dog is pleased that your pleased, you're pleased that your dog is pleased.... it's such a good feeling!

I am very out of practice with our 2 dogs, and it's really a pity that when you don't keep up, things wobble a bit.

If you give the dog an inch - he WILL take a mile (or two!)

If you do not adopt the alpha stance - the dog WILL.

If you do not stimulate the dog (intellectually and physically) - it WILL make it's own entertainmet.

If this dog was mine, I'd get it some behavioural training using a check chain (halties can make the dog get eye issues from rubbing against the soft skin near their eyes and muzzles are purely unnecessary IMO)

Check chains do NOT strangle dogs. They do NOT hurt in ANY way when used correctly. The check should last no more than one second but it is enough to make the dog realise that when it does such-n-such a shocking "feeling" comes round its neck. If it doesn't do that thing - it has a comfy collar. It learns fast that comfy = much better.

Also, re: jumping up. This is what my mum would say (professional dog trainer who has 6 yrs experience - and her boss with 40yrs!)

They say: make your dog stay in a seperate area whilst you see the guests in. Let guests in, coats off, sit down and get comfy.

Bring dog in ON LEAD. Let dog say hello. When dog jumps, yell "NO!" (a la child-about-to-run-in-road type) and pull the dog off. Make it sit on the floor where guests can resume the hellos. Let it only continue for a couple minutes - too long will over-excite dog.

Take off lead; dog should be ok.

Dogs that go on the furniture etc are not the bottom of the pack. Dogs should remain at floor level and people should ALWAYS be higher. If the kids want to fuss it on the floor - make them kneel.

Dog goes in to the house last and out last, it eats last and NEVER has scraps directly from the table/plate - always put them in the bowl at end of meal.

Doing these simple things will teach the dog that it is the bottom in the pack and everyone in the family is above it. It will soon learn where it stands.

Please - get it some proper behavioural training (look for someone like Mick on Dog Borstal - he trained with my mums boss and has mostly very good methods).

oops i forgot to add - the motto for the dog school is; No dog is beyond training.

Mums boss has helped people with dogs on death-row (you know - where they are under threat of destruction from police etc) so there is no way this dog is beyond help!

How are you getting on, HiddenIcon? When we first got our 2nd dog, we spent about 6 months really wondering whether or not we should take him back to the rescue centre. He was a nutter from the dog nuthouse, bred on a puppy farm and sold in a petshop, and ready to take on the world! We did wonder a bit what our other dog saw in him, but she chose him and they still get on well, years later.

I met Robert Alleyne (also Dog Borstal trainer) before dd#2 was born. I found him kind and straightforward, and for me really importantly, non-judgemental. It's a personal thing. The higher echelons of dog trainers is a small world, so I believe!

About the copraphilia... I was told by someone who is a sheepdog trainer that if a dog is prone to eating its own faeces to incorporate some pineapple in it food - apparently this then puts them off the taste of the poo. Might just be worth seeing if you can get your cat to eat some pineapple... which might be easier said than done knowing how fussy cats can be, but maybe tuna&pineapple mash would do it. The other suggestion was that if you catch dog in the act of poo eating, promptly dose with some mustard. Sounds a bit harsh, never tried it myself (my dog likes roadkill and stuff thats dropped off slurry tanker. He used to eat lots of sheep droppings but seems to have outgrown that trait fortunately).