Solitary chicken - need advice

[Tessa the Duchess]

Polly went to her first training class last night. One of the things she is really scared of is big dogs, and guess what her fellow classmates are...a Great Dane, an Irish Wolfhound, a Labrador and two other medium sized dogs she spent the first 10 minutes barking her head off, until the trainer showed us how to stop this. It was very interesting. We did 'sit' which I thought Polly had perfectly, but turns out the dog should 'sit' right next to your legs not any old where. Then we did 'down' which is quite hard and we need to practice this We then started to do 'not pulling on the lead' which all the dogs there were guilty of, boggles the mind trying to walk a Gt. Dane who pulls Apparently this is the hardest thing to train a dog to do, we might relent and buy a Halti The interesting thing was how the various sources give different advice for training dogs, eg the rescue home where we got Polly told us that we MUST give her one to two hours off the lead exercise every day minimum, which we have valiantly been doing. The trainer told us that for a dog under a year old they should have 5 minutes for every month of their age,which means that Polly needs 30 mins twice a day. The trainer said that over exercising a dog is very bad and can cause all sorts of joint problems later in life, also the dog gets very fit and demands more and more exercise which is not feasible. I enjoyed it very much and we have homework to do Anybody any comments about the exercise thing?

 

Tessa

[Guest]

I can just see you on a pair of these

 

 

or, failing that, try one of these...

 

 

[Tessa the Duchess]

lol Justine. I quite fancy those wheelie shoes, but the doggie treadmill is just wrong!!

 

Tessa

[Seagazer]

I have heard that Tessa about the exercise. I must admit that I didn't adhere to it. Once Cookie was old enough to be off the lead and in the park she had other pals to run around with.

 

My groomer said that her boyfriend tells her off if she lets her dog have too much exercise. She has a portugese water dog and shows it so obviously doesn't want anything untoward to happen to stop her showing the dog.

 

I think you have to go with your gut instinct. One thing we did do was not let Cookie jump up (ie playing) as she is quite leggy and didn't want anything to happen to her hips.

 

I think the main thing is to keep their brains active as this is thought to tire them out quicker. We play hunt the toy with Cookie. We make her sit and stay and then one of us hides a toy somewhere in the house. She loves it.

[Gamebird]

Rough play, running up and down stairs and jumping onto hard surfaces can damage a young dogs' joints while they are still growing.

 

This is particularly true for the bigger breeds.

 

Everything in moderation.

 

By the time a dog is 9 months to a year old he is usually fully grown and provided he is fit enough pretty much anything goes.

[Lesley]

Jazz was taught to sit wherever she is - at the end of our drive is a main road and we want her to sit if told....in case someone ever left the gate open.....which they sometimes do We don't want to show her so we don't mind.

 

Jazz still jumps up because Carl still (after nearly three years!! ) will not get the hang of ignoring or deflecting her - he still catches her paws He needs training.....with a Taser I think

 

We were careful not to over-exersize Jazz as well - no jumping play until she was nearly one year old. The trainer we had told us not to let her use the jump element of an obstacle course set we bought.

[chelsea]

I agree about not over exercising especially when they are still growing. I think the rescue centre have advised for an adult dog. We were told not to over do it with Bracken whilst she was developing as a pup.

[The Dogmother]

The amount of exercise depends on the type of dog and their age. Training will wear them out more than off lead running because they have to concentrate (for lurcher owners, read SHOULD concentrate )

 

You can over exercise young dogs and cause damage, especially if they are allowed to jump a lot or use stairs. The growth plates on their legs are the last bone to harden and can be damaged by too much impact exercise; one reason why dogs under 18 months old oughtn't to be taught agility.

 

Ruby is very bouncy and I have a real job discouraging her, she also loves to run REALLY fast, as you'd exepct from her type. I just limit it and use part of each exercise session as on-lead training time.

 

I have found a really good trainer locally, who really understands the mentality of hounds. Ruby and I are about to start a post-puppy class to hone the finer points, epspecially her problems with distraction

[Seagazer]

Jazz was taught to sit wherever she is - at the end of our drive is a main road and we want her to sit if told....in case someone ever left the gate open.....which they sometimes do We don't want to show her so we don't mind.

 

Jazz still jumps up because Carl still (after nearly three years!! ) will not get the hang of ignoring or deflecting her - he still catches her paws He needs training.....with a Taser I think

 

We were careful not to over-exersize Jazz as well - no jumping play until she was nearly one year old. The trainer we had told us not to let her use the jump element of an obstacle course set we bought.

 

Yes I need training for the men in my family as they all think its great that Cookie likes to greet them with her two front paws on their chests (its a poodle thing! ). It doesn't matter how many times I tell them not to let her do it they just carry on. You should see my poor mum trying to cope when cookie does it to her. (mum isn't firm enough either!)

[The Dogmother]

I find that with non-doggie people - they always say 'oh, I don't mind her jumping up'. But I do, and she's a leggy thing that can jump up as far as my head!

[Seagazer]

Its really annoying isn't it? Also if they are dog people and want to give her a treat but don't make her sit for one.

[Guest]

I only have problems with great danes Molly just about reaches my shin

[Guest]

thread killer strikes again!

[AnnieP]

[Lesley]

 

My problem is with non-doggy people......most of my family are not doggy people (me included!) and don't want a dog jumping up at them! It's all very well trainers saying tell people to ignore the dog completely or turn your back on them........not everyone is wearing dog friendly clothes!!!!

 

Also, my SM is very frail so even though she loves Jazz, she mustn't jump up.....and SM's mother is nearly 96 ! - I can't stand there saying "just ignore her, she'll soon stop" !!!!

[Chucky Mama]

Over exercising in young dogs is really and issue for large and giant breeds. If your dog is a medium sized light framed collie type you should not really have too many issues. Stairs and jumping however for any young dog is not a good thing. I think the rule of thumb for exercise is consistency. If your dog gets 1 hour then grow to be happy with an hour etc. My active collie x gets 30 - 45mins a day and is happy with it. The 2 labs that live next door get 3 hours a day but still wont let their owner sit down in the evening but that is because it has become routine for them to get loads of walks and them pester him to play ball with them every evening. When they stay with me they are happy with 30-45 mins once a day and them settle quietly in the evening. Don't think as many do that giving a hyper active dog loads of walks a day will stop them being hyper, it just means that you have a very fit hyper active dog. Some of these dogs need mental stimulation rather than physical. Have you tried any doggie brain trainers?