Criosdaidh

Achilles: I've always been a fan of warrior names. When I got Achilles (half border collie and half husky) he was very brave. He was around 35 lbs or so, a young small dog and was constantly jumping up into the faces of huge german shepards and the likes at pet smart. He's got alot of ballz to be neutered. So I figured his courage deserved a worthy name.

Hmmm currently I dump it into the bin I'll start using bags though. I always try to get 2 different kind of foods and I mix them together in the can. I'll just start keeping a cup in the can to take a scoop out of each bag and put into their bowls.

When training Achilles to shake I would have him sit first. Then I'd say "shake" and pick his paw up with my hand and shake it like a hand shake. Eventually after I would say "shake" he'd anticipate that I was going to pick up his paw and he'd lift it up. When he cooperated like this I would give him a treat. When he didn't meet me half way no treat.

I actually had a long time dog owner tell me its not good to mess those anal glands that the dog should take care of it his/her self. She also said that once you've messed with it that they are more likely to have problems down the road and that dogs take care of theirself by dragging their booty on the ground. My dad used to hunt professionally and we've raised many dogs in my family and I had never even heard of anal glands until I joined this site. Anyone else heard this?

Gratz on the new puppy she's adorable! I lived in an apartment for 6 years with no pets except some pretty neat fish one time but I had dogs all my life from since I could remember and I was going nutz without one. I know where you're coming from so enjoy that puppy!

Achilles is half bordercollie / half husky mix and I guess he was about 7 months old when we finished our first 5k together. Since then we have completed quite a few 4 mile runs and a few 5 mile walks. I think some of it will depend on your dogs size as a little dog will have to work much harder to keep up. Achilles is a pretty big guy so he can keep up with me doing a slow jog himself which is about the only way my big butt can jog anyways.

"As much as our hearts go out to them, shelter dogs are what they are because they have failed to live up to the expectations of at least one of their owners, and sometimes several owners, before arriving at their destination." Ok so is his point that some "owners" are so stupid that they didn't think they'd have to spend any time teaching a puppy to behave as it grows up just like you do *gasp* human children? "Remember that a dog imprints between seven and 11 weeks of age, which means that its character and habits are permanently formed at the end of this period." Uh don't think so bud. No in my experience with any of my dogs. Achilles was a street rat when I got him, he was bad ADHD, couldn't focus, was sporratic and fidgety. Now he's very well behaved (best dog I ever had no exaggeration), very focused when I'm trying to teach him something or interacting with him. "Even in the best circumstances, shelter dogs will usually require a greater effort to accomplish less in every aspect and stage of training, both because of their prior experiences." Once again completely different in my experience. Achilles learns very quickly. And not just in general ways, he picks up on details about what I want him to do. "With the exception of two, none of those dogs were anywhere near as messed up in the head as my dog from a breeder is." Uh, thank ya. I've had several purebred breeder dogs in my day and every one of them was a mental case compared to the 2 dogs we have now. "IMHO dogs are alot like kids in many ways. In that they need alot of the same things: Time, love, patience, understanding, and to be taught how to act. They aren't just born with manners. Why can't people just realize that?! " 100% agree.

Adorable!!!!

*update* Hmm..so I tried the lure him down with a treat trick and it worked like a charm lol. I dunno what it did but he just kinda snapped back into learning mode or something and now he gets the general idea. Thanks a heap guys we're gonna be working on his consistency in the next few days.

Ok thanks guys I'll try the lure method.

Well the thing I've been trying to teach him lately is to lay down. I used the command "lay down". I used a downward motion with my hand and I'll gently push him downward to show him what I want him to do. Thats how I taught him to stand up and shake and bark as well. I would pick him up by the front paws and say "stand up" and then give him a treat. After a few tries he realized that if he was on his back paws he got a treat and started doing it himself when he heard me say "stand up". Sort of like he was thinking "why wait for him to stand me up when I can do it myself faster and get my treat!". I also use "good boy" and affection along with the treat to indicate that he did something good. Just all of a sudden, it stopped working. I don't know if this makes a difference but he still goes bonkers for the chicken jerky. If he hears that foil bag rattle he's bouncing around like a rubber ball. And he still does all his old tricks as good as ever.

Just some brief background: When I got Achilles from the shelter he was a very well behaved dog although he didn't know much in the way of commands. He would sit a little but I'm not sure that it wasn't just blind luck as rare as it was. After having him for a month or so I begin to teach him to sit and he caught on really really fast. So I got some chicken jerky treats and decided to see just how well he could learn. In a matter of 2 weeks I taught him to sit on command consistently, to shake, to bark on command and to rear up on his hind legs when I said "stand up". No joke it took maybe 10 minutes per trick for him to catch on and then just a few minutes here and there to get him more focused and consistent. Now he won't do squat. I can't teach him to lay down, or do anything as simply as that. I thought teaching him to que off verbally on command and to actually stand up on his back legs was pretty advanced, at least considering I was his trainer. But now its like he's a stump. He'll still do the ones I taught him perfectly, he just has no desire or ability to learn any new ones. I'm using the same technique as before, I get him into attention mode (sitting in front of me staring at me) then I say the command a couple times, use my hands to show him what to do (like shaking his paw to teach him "shake") and then saying "good boy" and giving him a piece of treat. That used to be all it took. After about 5-6 times he would start to mimic what he realized I was going to do anyways. (he would just pick up his paw and put it in my hand since he knew I was going to take it myself anyway after saying "shake"). Now he just sits there looking at me. He never tries to mimic like he was doing earlier. Seems to have started after my in-laws came and spent a week with us. Not that it has anything to do with it.

Thats what I was thinking. I think theres far more dog abuse in that people are pumping their dogs up, possibly beating them to make them mean so that they want to bite people. I think some people are setting thse dogs up to bite or attack.

Its funny that you mention butt sniffing Maizy because Achilles can't stand that. Theres been 2 or 3 instances where a dog would try to sniff his rear and he would quickly snap to attention in their direction and either yelp or growl. All I can understand from what I've seen is that he simply doesn't like either having his butt sniffed or he doesn't like having a dog behind him where he can't keep a good eye on them.

What I want to know is why these dogs attack? My family has owned alot of dogs in my lifetime, a wide variety of breeds and never once did one of our dogs bite someone. We've had some that would go ape nutz if a stranger came up into the yard but they never tried to bite anyone.