do you find this hard with your dogs. Or do you see it as essential in the early days, so you have a dog who is a pleasure to own?

I THINK YOU HAVE TO BE FIRM BUT IT CAN BE HARD AT TIMES WITH THOSE BIG ROUND PUPPY EYES :)

I'm finding this a problem, particularly with Toby's SA.  I want to fuss him all the time I'm there to make up for when I'm not at home, and I feel dreadfully guilty when telling him to 'go', but if I didn't he'd be jumping around my feet all day long!

Hi Emma, yes you have to be firm. . Each owner will have different boundaries. Whether obedience (competitive) training or simply knowing that it is not allowed on the furniture. A well trained dog is a happy dog and an absolute pleasure to own. I dont find it hard training or being firm as IMO it is essential to start as you mean to go on, and once through the puppy/teenage/stroppy months I will have a well adjusted and happy dog. Dogs appreciate consistancy, they need routine, but they need to fit in with your routine, not you with theirs. Above all treat your dog with respect.

I live with 5 well trained Labs and 2 stroppy Lab puppies, (who are getting there, albiet slowly :D ) and I enjoy my dogs immensly.  7 well trained are easier to live with than 1 who thinks that he can get away with murder :D  All are trained with love and respect and I never do any training if I am bad mood

Edited to add:   being firm means walking away, ignoring  and turning your back.  Being firm means a gentle but firm No. Most dogs only wish is to please their owners, but will test you to the limit in the process :D :D

Im going to try and be slightly firmer than I was with Bradley. He used to get away with allsorts. <hangs head in shame>

whats the problem with tobys SA keely? are you teaching a WTrails type one or a obedience type one? or just a pet type/to the bed type one?

Depends on what you mean by firm.......  I have no problem ignoring my dogs when necessary - but raising my voice just isn't me.....

Yes i know what you mean, i find it hard when i am eating and see these big sad eyes looking at me, hence we have made him a pain now when we are eating anything on the settee.

We have the same problem when eating on the settee, but eventually he gets bored and lays down by our feet.  I never give him tit-bits as I know I'll be making a rod for my own back :)

Hi Emma,

My motto has always been, "never allow today,what you won't allow tommorrow" ;)

I have a really "horrible" pup at the moment (just kiddin) :P and my patience is tested daily, to the limit, but because she is a very determined  but loveable???? :rolleyes: dog, I am vowing to be stern with her as if I let her go to the limit, my god.............we'll all be sorry :P

Hi Hairypooch, how is little (or not so little by now) Callia coming on?  I bet she is quite lively - I remember this stage of shredded clothes, etc well (although I was looking back of puppy pics of Saffy yesterday and she looked as though butter wouldn't melt) - they seem to do that look very well don't they.    Is she getting on well with your other 2 dogs?

Fiona

Fiona, she is a classic little monster :P But thank you for asking :)

Although Monsterman was only a baby 2 yrs ago, it seems like a decade and some :rolleyes:. I have only recently realised what an angel he is.  I have a feeling that I have my work cut out with her, she is far more opinionated, determined and stubborn. I think that I have just described the breed profile perfectly :D

Huge feet, long lanky legs, sharp teeth, will of iron,.........just another day in Briard towers :P :P That and the obsession with the assisting me with the laundry (what is it with Briards and laundry?) Sulking when she doesn't get her own way (haunches up and head firmly between paws, do you get that??) :P

Ella grumps at her but plays when Cally remembers her manners, Murf, well........after he got over his jealousy, plays for 2 minutes and then whimps out as she loves to tug at his willy :D Him and I are NOT amused but she seems to find it fascinating!!!!

If I ever decide to get another Briard pup, just remind me of these times and I'm sure I will never do it again :P

She sounds like a normal Briard pup then!  Keep telling me all she gets up to and it will remind me not to get another until my boys (human) are a bit older.  She sounds like a handful, but I bet she is gorgeous too!

Fiona

Gosh yes!! Hard is so not me. Mack wouldnt know what had hit him if I was hard with him.

I know that alot of people would disagree with me, BUT I brought Mack into my life and chose for him to lead his life my way. He wil never receive hard treatment - he is a wonderful boy - so why should I make him make him live to so-called human standards? If he wants to think he is boss, well so what??

Let dogs be themselves!

I am a true believer on being firm but fair.  Having trained dogs for show ring, I have found that not being firm makes them misbehave.  I would never harm a dog, I will be firm and they will do what I want them to do, when I want them to do it, in return they get praise and games and most importantly....FOOD!

Being firm, does not mean nasty, What I want the dog to do, they will do when I say.  It's the pecking order, and I'm at top (ok mum's at top...)

Tho I would be lieing if I said I had never given into the cute large puppydog eyes...because I have!!!!!!!!!!!!

those puppy eyes - do they ever stop????

NO!!! :D Even our 11 yr old gives those puppy eyes!!!!

I was trimming up the 3 dogs who are going to a show tomorrow, he comes prancing into the room, demanding he gets groomed, I tell him to wait his turn (he always gets at least an extra brush so he doesn't feel left out) and he sits there looking at me, then prancing round the room!

We just went out for our evening walk, and Dad gets to show his boy tomorrow as I'm working and "kennel  maid" is going along so can handle second dog in open class.  Dad practises with his boy, stand and running up and down.  (I say his boy because he is his, and is a daddy's boy, but I love showing him because he feels like a dog! and so I demand I show him!!!! :D ) and our old boy walks down the road sideways, head looking at me, big brown eyes and a great big smile on his face!  Had to give him, he got to stand and run up and down!!!!

So nope puppy eyes never stop, sorry, learn to block them out NOW!!!! :D

Emma...

I don't know how 'firm' you need to be exactly...I've found that as puppies, if I don't want them biting, I don't let them bite.  If I don't want them walking ahead of me down the steps, etc., I don't let them. 

Do things with your puppy now that you want him to do when he's an adult and vice versa.  :)

I'm nothing like as firm with my pup as I had intended to be (the road to Hell and all that).  He was in the bed on the second night and still sleeps under the duvet most nights although now he's happy to be shut out of the bedroom when I don't want him there.

I'd also thought "Right, if he never has any human food he won't know what it is."  Yeah right.  Within a week he'd nicked a packet of Marks and Sparks' Viennese Whirls.  Now whenever I'm eating there's a hopeful whippet not too far away.

He's also utterly shameless when out on walks.  He knows exactly which other owners carry treats with them and he'll always make sure he says hello to those people!

However I was very firm about certain issues, for example puppy-biting was absolutely not tolerated.  We'd yelp then ignore him which was very effective.  Any signs of dominance (thankfully very few) have been quashed immediately and he doesn't ever get away with chasing the cats, although if I'm honest the cats probably taught him that lesson themselves.

I realise now that I was probably expecting too much from myself.  It's very easy to give other people advice and to try to do everything by the book but at 5am with a whining puppy it's ever so easy to scoop him up and take him into bed!  I don't believe that the issues I caved in on a bit have affected his personality in a negative way.

I suppose what I'm trying to say, in a very roundabout way, is that everyone must train to suit their own circumstances and level of tolerance.  What I find incredibly sad is the inordinate number of owners I see actively encouraging "bad" behaviour in a pup, e.g. playing biting games with their hands, getting a pup to jump up, barking back at them etc.  Then 6 months later the poor dog is being punished for these behaviours and doesn't know why.  I feel so sorry for them.

Anyway, that's my 2p worth.

I find it easy to be firm over things that really matter - like NO CHASING, or not on my bed as I just cant sleep with a big dog getting up and turning round during the night. Its incredibly easy to let things slide gradually eg one failed recall becomes two then  " suddenly" the dog is refusing to come when called. Its been easier for me as I chose to take teenage louts rather than baby pups, so never had to imagine puppy behaviour in an adult dog, I could see the consequences. BTW Emma Im delighted for you having another boxer, and hope youll pass on some wisdom to us when Stinkfoot's pup arrives in 8 weeks time.

Possibly would of turned to the fizzy pop by then.lol

i dont think "firm" is the same as "hard".
i actually dont think you need to be "hard" on puppies . they are a lovely blank sheet & only want to please. been "hard on them as puppies,will only mean you "toughen "them up & have to be 10times harder when they are adults

imo,puppies are happier if there are guidelines from the start. with flynn who was a perfect puppy i simply did not accept any behavoiur that i did not want to continue later. id not tell him off, just tell him "no" & praise him when he didnt do it. as a result i never had to tell him off. im much happier like that & hes happy knowing "house rules"-not that there are many! just the usual. no chewing furniture or walls, the toilets outside etc. im not a great believer in "dominance "etc so my rules are quite easy to live with!!!!!

I don't really like the term firm. Most dog owners understand it to mean consistent. But what about the newbie dog owner who might think firm means hard or tough. I think we should use the word consistent more often.

Lube

yes,i take "fair" as being very consistent