question about the cold and paws. and puppy lessons.

I

itsme123

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Little R really seems to feel the cold. So far she's got a little black 'rug' type coat with a removeable fleece, and two pink duvet type coats (I sooo got a rollocking for that one.. hes refusing to be seen with her in them lol). But when we walk out she looks almost pained, and I think her feet are cold? Is it possible for her feet to get that cold it'd hurt her? If so should I avoid walking her when it's very cold and icy??
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The other dogs (neighbours yorkie terriers etc) seem to be fine? R just plants herself
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shes not tiny or anything, is STILL the biggest and healthiest of her litter (was the only bitch). Obv. she needs to go out, but don't want to get into the habit of carrying her. Is there anything I can do, bar putting dog boots on her that will help?

Secondly I've been getting 'light' one to one lessons with R, but our 'instructor' doesnt do group lessons. The trainer she advised hasnt another beginners class until april, so I booked with another group. But upon speaking to the instructor, and meeting him in one of his classes I have some concerns. He's very regimented... and doesnt teach the way R's been taught. His is very much a food related reward system, and he's very shouty. I mentioned to him that i don't use a food reward and he said "well, you'll do it my way here..."
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they don't do agility or anything, just basic training, and always off the lead.
Would you go with the recommended group and wait a while? shes getting socialisation at the park... (but I'm concerned with leaving her training as my instructor is stopping doing one to one at the end of the month as she's having a baby) or go with the second group? All the handlers and dogs there were happy but I am concerned about changing training methods and wanted to do something 'more' with her, perhaps agility or rally?
Dads no use... he thinks she should be used on the yard for ratting and live in a kennel
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I'd go with your current trainer's recommendation, April is not that far away. You coud ask for some homework to be getting on with until then.

If her paws are bothering her it might be the grit and salt on the roads hurting them - you could try vaseline or paw wax to give them a protective coating?
 
Snow balls up really quickly between pads so she may be getting sore feet. vaseline works quite well.

Saw the funniest thing earlier. Friend walked her spaniel over to see me this morning, he is a wocker and loves the snow. I have never seen so many huge balls of snow hanging off one dogs body.....he looked like a very badly clipped poodle. Its going to take hours to get them all off him and Im surprised he could carry the weight to be honest!
 
I'm not sure about her paws, but I have seen dogs with little boots, maybe these would help?

You should definately not go to a trainer whose methods you are not comfortable with. Is there no way you could train at home (set yourself a training programme from what you have done with your other dogs, or follow a book?) until April? I wouldn't want to leave a puppy with no training till April, so if you can't train at home isn't there another class your instructor could recommend that follows the same training principles?

Regarding agility my personal view is that agility training works a lot better when the dog is a bit older (2 yrs old is ideal) and knows the basic commands. Betty who started agility (just for fun) at 6yrs was 'promoted' to the intermediate group in her second lesson because she already had 'sit', 'stay', 'come', 'right heel', 'left heel', 'target', and 'jump', so she pretty much did all the introductory equipment. Also, it is generally not recommended to do agility with a very young dog, depending on the breed and size the dog should be at least a year to 18 months old before it starts agility.

Just out of interest why don't you like food reward training systems? What system do you use?
 
[ QUOTE ]

Saw the funniest thing earlier. Friend walked her spaniel over to see me this morning, he is a wocker and loves the snow. I have never seen so many huge balls of snow hanging off one dogs body.....

[/ QUOTE ]

Something a bit like this by any chance....

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Poor dog refused to go any further at this point!
 
ahh no reason in particular. I've always used food reward training before but R just doesnt react to a treat. She'd much rather have the reward of her tummy rubbed or a toy. Shes quite hyper and a 'people' puppy (she'll do anything for attention and fuss) so it works well for us. Offer her a tit bit for recall and she goes "food? I had that earlier.... " and wanders off.
I've just phoned a different class (which was a beggar to get a phone number for because they're a small club) and had a chat with the lady there. Explained a few things and she was more than happy and said she'd love to have us along. And they start a month earlier. It sounds much much better, and the fact they have a waiting list is speaking volumes. So I've booked provisionally on that, but am attending a class this week to watch.

Can anyone recommend a good traing book? I've a couple already (an RSPCA one and a gundog one) , though I largely go on what I know anyway, its always interesting to read about other tecniques... I want to move on to 'sit and stay' with the recall and heelwork.
 
Fair enough, some dogs are not very food motivated! Reward techniques should work equally well with anything the dog finds rewarding - the trainer who insisted on food sounds a bit weird!

Glad you may have found somewhere else. I find it a lot easier to get myself motivated with a weekly class and it's fun to see the other puppies.

If you want a clicker book I would recommend "Go click!" by Elizabeth Kershaw. She doesn't cover gundog training but she does go through the basic principles of operant conditioning and how to train usual obedience and fun exercises, some of which I would imagine is very relevant to gun dog training.
 
Thankyou
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(though she wont be a gundog... my dad just gave me the book)

The idea is that we can do classes and progress through them, long term, to an actual discipline. Shes an intelligent little being and I'm a great believer that dogs need a 'job', wether it be a yard dog, or doing soemthing more structured, ie a dog hobby
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. So I intend on working through the different levels in obedience until shes old enough to do something more.

Right now her hobbies are chasing the cats (and being chased by the cats) and yapping loudly at anyone who DARES come near the door
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so definately need to challenge that energy.
 
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