Hi Guys,

I need you rottie experts to set me right please?

I now have my Fab little Girl and she is settling in well. I just would like to know how often and for how long do you practice standing your dogs? I do it in odd spare moments wherever we are but I don't do it every day and I only do it for a minute or two as I am worried she will get fed up. We have started puppy classes and will go onto ringcraft in about 3 weeks, she is 12 weeks at the moment.
I try and make her stand freely(square) without picking her legs up and moving them, as I don't want her to strech her back legs out and be uncomfortable(paranoid) so as to put her off that way.

The other problem is house training I use a crate at night and she (bless her) has been dry at night from day 1 but during the day, my method is put her out on waking after food and play and if I see her sniffing the ground. I have caught her in the act a couple of times but I just say a firm no and take her outside, but she will still just pee whenever and wherever, no idication that she is grasping the idea at all, am I expecting too much?? My labs all house trained within a week or two with this method and I know she is bright, and I am fast coming to the conclusion that she is too bright and wonders why she has to go out in the cold when she can do it on a nice warm carpet!!!

Thanks for your advice

Lilly

Hi There

Sorry you had no replies to this post before now (I have been on hols :))

I think you are doing the right thing, standing her on occasion for a few mins at a time.  You don't want to do too much whilst she is so young but you can get her to stand and wait for her dinner for instance, when she waits tell her ok and for a treat get her to stand in front of you, tell her to stand and if she does treat her - all of this of course is if you have not done so already.  Remember to bait her because they do tend to become a bit bored standing still if there is nothing in it for them.  I bait my boy every 20 secs or so, sometimes more to keep him interested however it is the smallest bit of food, then when he is being gone fver by judge I allow a bigger bit of bait to be nibbled to keep him still.  When you start attending ring craft you should get the help needed but sounds as though you have things sorted.  I would however start playing about with her feet if she is not already placing herself correctly (many do) as she will need to get used to being moved about whilst standing - I do this by getting a big bit of sausage or liver, hold it so they can nibble it and move a back leg, if she allows you to do so and stands in that position for a few seconds, allow her to have a bigger bit of bait.  You should also be looking at her teeth, using a command such as 'teeth' lifting her lips at side and gently look at her bite (front teeth) but be sure not to pull her nose up too far as this is uncomfortable and she will dislike it!  If she lets you do so give her a treat and so on.  The more people you can get looking at her teeth the better as it can if not taught correctly, become a problem in the ring.  You also want to get her back legs out a bit whilst she is young, it is a natural stance for them therefore the younger you start her off the more natural it will become for her, you don't have to have her pulled right back so she is almost falling over but get a bit of a stretch from her.

Hope this helps but I have PM'd you a link that is great too  (PM is a personal message at top right in case you didn't know;))

Hello

My girl was the same with regard to toilet problems.  In the end I found that letting her out every hour and telling her 'wee wees' and praising her when she had weed outside, all began to work. It did take time though!  My other boy got it from day one!  You are doing the right things by tellking her 'no' and taking her outside. I didn't tell her off when she had weed inside, just a firm 'no' and then outside she went, normally until she had weed and got the message that weeing is for outside!  As time went on I found that we could increase the amount of times I told her to go out for a wee, from 1 hour to 1.5 to 2 hours.  Now she goes outside and can wee on command, of course when she needs to go, she finds me and takes me to the door to let her out. I think some dogs can be lazy and obvously when its cold and wet, why should she go outside!  I just make it clear that they have to go by repeating commands and by slowly using a firm tone. It does take time but it will work.  Stick with it!

Yep - little and often is the trick!

I start mine off by holding the treat in my fingers to get their attention and supporting them under their tummy with my hand while they get the idea.  Don't worry about foot placement, that comes later.

Once they are a bit older and their back end evens up with the front (!) I teach them to self stack which involves teaching them a back command.  I do all this with the clicker but you don't need to.  I can send you some techniques if you want to have a go?

Rotties are usually very quick to housetrain - I have never crated mine and I find it accelerates the house training if you don't (strange as it may seem!).  With the crate they can regard that as their domain whereas when they have the run of the house, that becomes their domain that they don't want to soil.  I take pups out every hour (again using the clicker but commands are fine) and when they "perform", they get heaps of praise/goodies with a click (or command) when they are in the act.  Overnight, I set the alarm three times during the night so I can whip them outside - its worked so far and I've not had one go over a week for housetraining. 

Some pups though I think can just be stubborn little beggars!

Hi Keeper, just wanted to say that I actually came across your site ages ago and book marked it as it is so useful and informative - can't wait to a few more bits are finished ;)

Aww thanks!  I keep scribbling bits up and then never get chance to sort it all out - writing is the easy bit, its getting the dogs to have their photos taken which is the worst!  If you have any suggestions, feel free!

I bet its difficult - such a good site though it really is, I have also passed it on to a load of other rottie people.  It was useful for me as Bali is my first show dog therfore the tips were handy - not all ring craft classes show you how to handle correctly therfore you can spend a lot of time messing about......think we have it cracked now though :D  Any showing tips are appreciated by me, I love to learn about the confimation etc too, very interesting.  If I think of anything I will be sure to ask you ;)

Kelly

Hi Kelly,

You never stop learning to be honest and every new dog you have gives you a new experience!

Byron was a beggar for putting one hind leg forward so I taught him with a target stick to start with so when I said backleft etc. he knew I was going to move his leg and he had to stay.  From there we went onto a light tap on the leg I was going to move and he knows he has to leave it where it is!!!  Training is fascinating when you watch them cottoning on.

I've been knocked off the show circuit at the moment due to my elbow injury (broken last year so its pinned and plated, unfortunately its the left one!) so I'm limited to surfaces.  I had Byron entered in at Driffield but I can't run them on concrete surfaces as it rattles right up my elbow!  Will hopefully have more luck at LKA - let me know what shows you are at and we'll come and say hello!  It's easy to spot Byron, he is usually shop lifting at the trade stands and I am running around apologising and paying!

I'll be uploading more on conformation in the next week so will let you know when its there :)