Dog Owner Chat V. 5

[.Middy.]

We took Auggie on her last training outing yesterday before she heads home Sunday. We brought Omen and Bones to be a distraction for her stays and she absolutely killed it. I’m so proud of this pup, she’s such a awesome little dog. I’m very glad she belongs to our farrier so I’ll get to see her often after she goes home!

Omen and Bones are heading to a show next week! Bones may finish his AKC Championship if things go well! Omen is having her first show and she’s been working really hard on her free stacking!

[drift.]

Bones is getting so big !!! :0

Good luck at the shows!

[Kenjaku]

Also going to crawl out of the woodwork just to say: oh my goodness. Look at how big Bones is! It's been such a pleasure watching him grow through pics you share here.
Phalanges crossed for Bones & Omen both ;)

[Imzadi83]

Kikopup put up a great new video on recall ...

How is it possible to use Positive Reinforcement to train a RELIABLE recall? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uTgSr0acBo

[i<3 wolves678]

Update on the fleas;
Mungo and Midge are doing very well since the initial outbreak, my mum and I have done our best to keep things under control, and whilst we believe we have got rid of them for the most part, we still find the odd one whilst combing them and don’t want to risk any multiplying.
They’ve both been very patient with the comb, but Midge is starting to get fed up of it and is refusing to let us comb her without fuss, if anyone has any advice on how to incentivize her to sit still without using treats (any that would keep her there long enough she’d get too possessive over), that would be greatly appreciated. We’ll also be topping up their flea treatment once the month ends, which should hopefully help with killing off the rest of them.

[Imzadi83]

Update on the fleas;
Mungo and Midge are doing very well since the initial outbreak, my mum and I have done our best to keep things under control, and whilst we believe we have got rid of them for the most part, we still find the odd one whilst combing them and don’t want to risk any multiplying.
They’ve both been very patient with the comb, but Midge is starting to get fed up of it and is refusing to let us comb her without fuss, if anyone has any advice on how to incentivize her to sit still without using treats (any that would keep her there long enough she’d get too possessive over), that would be greatly appreciated. We’ll also be topping up their flea treatment once the month ends, which should hopefully help with killing off the rest of them.

What you you mean possessive? What kind of treats/dispensing methods have you tried?

You can work on desensitizing her to having her combed but that's going to take awhile. You can try a clamer environment and doing it after she's been well exercised. If you have any music designed for dogs you could try putting that on, or try one of those pheromonal diffusers but other than that I'm not really sure. Because it's necessary to get the fleas off, if she's agressive, you might have to consider muzzling her, which you can train her to accept. Other than that I'm kind of at a loss, sorry.

Even after you take care of the fleas I'd work on desensitizing her to the flea comb, working on a calm settle, and on her possessiveness so it's at least less traumatic for her in the future.

[Velveteen Hound.]

Woops kinda forgot about this board -
Wow though, that collie has grown up quite a bit, she is very pretty!

[bnom]

hi all, bit of a serious discussion here! mods lmk if i need to delete, but would appreciate any advice!

psa: i am pure balance, my dog is trained purely on positive reinforcement on EVERYTHING but recall.i have studied dog training and behaviour and work full time in the dog industry so please no hate.
has anyone used a sportdog collar before? i would love to know what the lifespan of one is like. i'm looking into investing into a solid, at least 4 year daily use ecollar and am really weighing my options. i'm looking at dogtra as well, but they often don't have a tone setting which i really need. is sportdog a good brand? they seem reputable but i like to do lots of research. otherwise, what is a good option for an ecollar in the 260usd range? (i am not american and that is all i can afford for the moment).
bb boy

[drift.]

IMO this is one of the better brands. I'm in an e-collar specific group and sportdog has also gotten some good reviews from many of the members. A majority, though, use the mini educator found on the website linked. They're a little out of your price range but in the end going cheaper will cost you more when you have to replace it for an inevitable failure of some sort (which Im sure you already understand, lol)

e-collar.com

[bnom]

ooh, okay, thank you for the info! it is good to hear that a knowledgeable group thinks it is okay. yes i have definitely seen the mini educator used by some good trainers here, but i find that the tone option is a bit iffy, that it does continuous stimulation if you press the tone for longer than 1.2 seconds. it is such a popular collar that is about the same price, so i actually might swap to it from the sportdog option because as you say, the cheaper ones always end up failing! however i do really dislike the remote deisgn, has anyone in your group talked about the easy educator ez900? (pretty sure this is the same website, but for my location. ^^ i'm just worried as you say, the majority uses the mini educator that the ez900 might not be as reliable.