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Dear Joanne, Thanks so much for the pictures! :) I was struggling with this despite Hemlock's kind and detailed description. I notice you are using your left hand. Is that because you are left handed, or because you want your dog on your left hand side. I know obedience competetions etc want...

Hi Kirsty, 180 sounds good (especially in our back garden) and delaying until week 16 or after sounds good advice. Take your point about harnesses - several people advised me the same (including a friend who used to train huskies to pull). Do you have any difficulty keeping the slip lead high...

Hi Judy, I think we are going to need to train our puppy to be calm with both a collar and a harness (unless we only use a harness) as we have a little boat and we will need to use a life jacket, (which for the puppy will feel quite like a harness. Our initial plan was to train with a slip...

Dear Kirsty, That's really interesting. I've read some of your other posts and you are clearly gentle and kind to your dog. It sounds as if you are using the slip lead in the way I hoped to learn. I've certainly no interest in choking the dog. Two questions: would you use one with a puppy...

Hi Hemlock, Your technique description sounds good and I don't mind if we don't get very far at first :) Am confused though about the lead holding - I've bee sitting here wiggling my hand around trying to follow the instructions, but I can't quite get it. Could you post a photo? Thanks for...

Hi Joanne, Take your point about 'the dog pulling' (not us) and I guess if he was, and we wanted to protect him, we'd need to 'go with' which is maybe the opposite of how we're hoping to train him. Liked the video a lot - very calm and relaxed - I'll find some other videos by her. Several...

Hi Joanne, thanks for the advice :) Concerned about using a harness in case we accidentally 'train' the little one to pull. Certainly wouldn't want to put any pressure through a slip lead, but was hoping it might be a gentle way of training out of pulling etc. Would hate to have any risk of...

Like the idea of deliberately being boring. My wife and I are going to practice this together :)

Hi, Really sorry to hear about your loss. Your worry is totally understandable, but it sounds like your grief about your last dog and your worries for your puppy are getting mixed together. A good CBT counsellor would be able to help you talk through your worries and your grief. There is...

Is either dog ending up hurt. If there are no puncture wounds then they are probably learning some good bite inhibition which will be valuable later on. Would it be possible to intervene really early (before they get too excited) and try and stop the game - then let them start again - so...

Unless you have a scary vet this sort of approach seems heavy handed with a young pup, but they might certainly try and encourage you to do this. If your dog runs off before you've had her chipped might be a different story :( There are tons of advantages of chipping and not too much of a...

Hi all, Picking up a Westie pup (our first dog) at the end of Jan. Have read that a 'snap around' or 'noose style' lead can be useful in training, with a gentle side flick being like 'tapping on the puppy's shoulder'. They look scary though as (if they were used badly by someone aggressive or...

Hi JacksDad, Interesting questions: Probably weekly with the puppy from around Week 16 so we get him well socialised to the boat. Once socialised we will probably spend a few days weekly on the boat Spring to Autumn over the next 2-3 years. If I can keep working only from home, which is...

Thanks Finsky, I was going to use this on top of a little plastic dog toilet, with a plastic grid eg. Iris Ohyama loo on Amazon (I can't yet post links). All good advice, Thanks again.

Might need to leave for about 3 hours in a pen, so that's what we want it for.

That is a great bit of advice Finsky - many thanks indeed. I followed the link you posted below and that might be just what we need. I'm guessing that with a bit of patience and a decent stanley knife I'll be able to cut it to size (they seem to sell it by the metre squared. Give it a go...

Hi all, First day on this forum. Seems like there is loads of good advice here and lots of friendly helpful people. We are getting a puppy in the New Year and would like to train him to use an indoor toilet as well as go outside as we have a little boat and we want to train him to be ok...