Nerve wracking... yes, another 25 minute barking session last night, and all of them woke me up again this morning, I am exhausted, we are having a lot of barking all round going on and I'm afraid I am toughening up with them all, we now have a strict no barking training regime happening here and I say cautiously that it is having some effect... but not at night.
Re the crate, I had thought of sleeping down here for a while but my sofa is tiny and I don't love her enough to sleep on the floor hehe.
the house training is going quite well, though lately she is doing little bits of wee about the house i'm wondering if its scent marking grrr.
You know what I am finding this very theraputic, its almost like writing a journal maybe I should, then publish it, the exploits of a puppy owner
I feel like a new mum who's life is taken over by this strange little being that speaks a different language and makes its own rules, its all a bit weird, I knew there must be a reason I like oldies
I wouldn't swap Kira though she is a little sweetheart and I know she will be worth all the work and lack of social activity and more, I'm hoping that once she's jabbed I can find a nice training class for her too

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I think oldies are even harder to train you know, Dodger nearly sent me round the twist but we did get there in the end and it is so much easier. Dodge is a bit of a food monster and bin bandit and left out and alone for even five monutes is recipe for disaster.
One day he decided to eat a box of flour and i spent 6 hours on my hands and knees cleaning up congeiled flour, not a redeming day for the old man in fact the air was quite blue in our house for a while.
But i always make sure he goes in now even when i am only popping out for five mnutes!!!!!

The joys of dog ownership but they are definatley worth it!!!!!

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What are you cleaning the wee up with? don't forget most products don't break the enzymes in the wee down which makes the smell.

Maybe you need to take everyone down a peg or 2 no priviledges and restore a bit of order i.e. no sofa, no sitting on laps, dogs get cuddles when they are called over for it and not acknowledging the dogs when you walk in a room or in/out of the house unless they are quiet and you intiate it. I have had to do this several times with new dogs coming into the house and it does work. I also make my dogs work for treats and even food at times when we are having a power struggle or Albert is being pathetic. He has these times where he goes all clingy and weird on me and we go right back to basics establish boundries and rules and he seems to settle i think it is his way of telling me i have let things go and he doesn't know where he stands. Like i said with Ruby we had to go so far as to identify a certain place for her to sit and lie and only there due to how little respect she had for us or the home it quickly worked though.
I think when you have a pack (you got 4 now you lucky thing) you have to be even more aware of these things and how what you does impacts upon how they treat you and react to each other. I certainly wouldn't want a house full of yapping and mad hounds lol can't think of anything worse (so never having westies lol).

Keep going moon you gotta keep telling us how you go on though.

Hxxx

The Safe 4 range is brill for breaking stuff down and the odour kill is the best thing ever i use it everywhere including where the dogs dont go. Im addicted to the smell its like bubblegum

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Mooncat - she may be doing what Brude tried when he was a pup

coz he knew he'd be whisked outside if he needed to go, he'd produce a dribble and wait for you to put him out!

this was, needless to say, a complete pain, and had to be trained out!

we pointed out the minute puddle, and said 'no', then took him to the back door and persuaded him to bark before immediately letting him out

now he comes to us and barks instead

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albertandtilly wrote:

What are you cleaning the wee up with? don't forget most products don't break the enzymes in the wee down which makes the smell. Maybe you need to take everyone down a peg or 2 no priviledges and restore a bit of order i.e. no sofa, no sitting on laps, dogs get cuddles when they are called over for it and not acknowledging the dogs when you walk in a room or in/out of the house unless they are quiet and you intiate it. I have had to do this several times with new dogs coming into the house and it does work. I also make my dogs work for treats and even food at times when we are having a power struggle or Albert is being pathetic. He has these times where he goes all clingy and weird on me and we go right back to basics establish boundries and rules and he seems to settle i think it is his way of telling me i have let things go and he doesn't know where he stands. Like i said with Ruby we had to go so far as to identify a certain place for her to sit and lie and only there due to how little respect she had for us or the home it quickly worked though. I think when you have a pack (you got 4 now you lucky thing) you have to be even more aware of these things and how what you does impacts upon how they treat you and react to each other. I certainly wouldn't want a house full of yapping and mad hounds lol can't think of anything worse (so never having westies lol). Keep going moon you gotta keep telling us how you go on though.Hxxx

Hmm yes your right about the pecking order thing, this has been a very relaxed household for a long time, we all know our place and it worked well enough.
The only thing I continually have a problem with is barking... Lucy is a barker always has been since day one , its the only thing I regret about having her because it does get on my nerves, Meg is a very excitable dog so Lucy sets her off too, and now with 3 at it my nerves are a bit shot
At the moment I am working on it by exclusion, that is barking for no good reason (in my opinion ) means that you are shut out away from mummy till your quiet again... seems to be having some effect, the older ones are quite quick with it Kira bless her is taking a bit longer to get it!
We had the Kira chorus again last night for half an hour, but not as loud and it seemed more sporadic and a wee bit feeble, so fingers crossed its going to end soonish woke up this morning to Lucy's continual yapping, then Meg and then Kira whining, Lucy (I'm guessing) had wee'd, so that may have been the cause... but getting up to all that noise is not nice, nor does it set the mood for a nice day
I have been guilty of cuddling Kira too much, thats a fact but I realised my mistake and now she can come up when i pick her up, any attempts at getting up without invitation are unsuccessful, this has worked quite well, she sits and asks mainly now, but if I don't go for the idea she goes and lays either by my feet, by the fire or in Lucy's bed
House training... whats that? say no more..... I have been cleaning up with ordinary cleaning stuff, rubbish I know, going to try and get some of the safe4 stuff as soon as I am paid, I might even take up the rug for now, and replace with something machine washable... we will get there... in the end... somehow

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Strix@Rain wrote:

Mooncat - she may be doing what Brude tried when he was a pup coz he knew he'd be whisked outside if he needed to go, he'd produce a dribble and wait for you to put him out! this was, needless to say, a complete pain, and had to be trained out! we pointed out the minute puddle, and said 'no', then took him to the back door and persuaded him to bark before immediately letting him out now he comes to us and barks instead

This is an interesting thought, some of Kiras "offerings" are what you would expect.. full wee's, but some are little bits mmm, I wondered if it was scent marking but could be wrong then.
Kira is developing kennel cough me thinks
I have jokingly said that I will use this thread as a journal, but really I think it could turn out quite useful to read for another new and exhausted puppy owner at some point lets hope though that it has a favourable conclusion or it will have them jumping out of the window

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scent marking doesn't usually kick in until they're starting to sexually mature - so it's probably not that just yet

this section was added to the forum for exactly this kind of thread we did have a debate about the merits of a chat section, and I think it's a very valuable part of the forum for people who are looking for reassurance that andrex puppies are a myth

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Strix@Rain wrote:

I think it's a very valuable part of the forum for people who are looking for reassurance that andrex puppies are a myth

Oh believe me the puppies are real, but the fluffy well behaved goodness is certainly a myth, I am in a very good position to confirm that at the moment, my puppy being half lab

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Biological washing powder is supposed to be good for cleaning wee it breaks down the enzymes and stops the smell apparantly.
I don't know if Jacqui still has the safe4 stuff at her place as we need to take a lead back to her so could always pick some up for you and save you postage cost up to you though. It is good though i borrowed some of strix when we had Ruby and it smells gorg expecially the odour killer.

As for barking Lucy is a terrier isn't she of sorts? so she has a natural more barky instinct and it is hard to stop these little dogs barking we had it with our jacks when i lived at home. I suppose the main thing is you don't want Kira copying and thinking this is how we behave and they do pick up on things qucikly.

This is gonna sound really silly but when our dogs bark i say in a loudish, low and firm voice 'thank you very much for letting me know be quiet now' and it does work i think it is because i am not shouting (or joining in as my dogs would see it) and my voice is low which my dogs know means i am serious as when i am playful with them or training i use a much higher voice the low voice is saved for no's and correcting things. Also albert was a real yapper and i would and still do sometimes push his snout downwards and say quiet at the same time, only gently never with force but repeatedly until he stops while saying quiet each time. It makes him quiet and wonder what is going on. Once quiet praise and treat. The voice thing does work though and i walk in front of them say it and point away from what they are barking at they are not getting positive interaction with me though when i do this so it isn't reinforcing the behaviour.

Just been reading through this - well if you find a way of silencing terrier crosses please let me know. I have 4 three of which are young and horrendously noisy - but I am lucky in that I do not have neighbours to worry about - just a job and I do appear somewhat non professional with all hell breaking loose in the background !

Love the photo of Kira - she does look like she would make you forget about the bad traits !

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albertandtilly wrote:

Biological washing powder is supposed to be good for cleaning wee it breaks down the enzymes and stops the smell apparantly. I don't know if Jacqui still has the safe4 stuff at her place as we need to take a lead back to her so could always pick some up for you and save you postage cost up to you though. It is good though i borrowed some of strix when we had Ruby and it smells gorg expecially the odour killer. As for barking Lucy is a terrier isn't she of sorts? so she has a natural more barky instinct and it is hard to stop these little dogs barking we had it with our jacks when i lived at home. I suppose the main thing is you don't want Kira copying and thinking this is how we behave and they do pick up on things qucikly. This is gonna sound really silly but when our dogs bark i say in a loudish, low and firm voice 'thank you very much for letting me know be quiet now' and it does work i think it is because i am not shouting (or joining in as my dogs would see it) and my voice is low which my dogs know means i am serious as when i am playful with them or training i use a much higher voice the low voice is saved for no's and correcting things. Also albert was a real yapper and i would and still do sometimes push his snout downwards and say quiet at the same time, only gently never with force but repeatedly until he stops while saying quiet each time. It makes him quiet and wonder what is going on. Once quiet praise and treat. The voice thing does work though and i walk in front of them say it and point away from what they are barking at they are not getting positive interaction with me though when i do this so it isn't reinforcing the behaviour.

I only have Bold washing powder at the moment, but I do have some safe4 on order now so hope to blitz it all real soon, trying to arrange payment so who ever sees me first and has been to see Jacquie could then get it for me if thats ok? I would be really grateful.
I really don't know what Lucy is made of apart from the poodle part, but what ever it is it knows how to yap thats for sure
Well apart from tonight, I was persuaded to try her with a walk last night, and she reluctantly came... today she is hardly able to walk, I feel rotten, she is really quiet and miserable she doesn't even want food.

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snougles wrote:

Just been reading through this - well if you find a way of silencing terrier crosses please let me know. I have 4 three of which are young and horrendously noisy - but I am lucky in that I do not have neighbours to worry about - just a job and I do appear somewhat non professional with all hell breaking loose in the background ! Love the photo of Kira - she does look like she would make you forget about the bad traits !

Lucky you without neighbours.
Kira is a really good little girl and all the rest of the time she is quiet, its just when I have to leave her that there is a problem.... Lucy on the other hand, well therein lies another story, Lucy barks for everything and nothing and Its really hard top stop her... the exclusion treatment seems to have been working somewhat, but quite honestly I'm not holding my breath, after 14 years of yapping she really doesn't care what my opinion is on it now

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so you're not going to share your latest pic of her with the rest of the forum then Mooncat?

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Just a quick update, Kira has made a new friend in Oliver my 7 month old kitten, they are so sweet and he will even wrestle with her he is now filthy with rolling around in the garden
I Thought that you might like to see a couple of pics
We are tired.
Come on wake up Kira.
What are you doing?
You can't catch me!
I'm sure I'm not convincing anyone but I did hoover up yesterday tea time Kira has discovered paper shredding is fun

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