Finally admitting things are not going well

[maddy74]

Big hugs for you. xx

Changing him on to adult food might help, I noticed Willow calmed down almost over night when we made the change.

No other advice to add really, I think others have advised well. Do you know any other dogs locally that could come over and play in the garden with him so he starts to get used to other dogs again?

Maddy xx

[Pauline T]

no advice , just wanted to let you know I have been through similar, I have cried myself to sleep on many occasions,  things improved immensely with help from an excellent behaviourist.
Hope you get the help and support you both need soon.

from me too. We went through similar with Charlie at the same sort of age. We had to go back to basics. Here we are 6 years later with a wonderful, happy and well behaved (well almost !!)   Lots of great advice given, hang in there. 

[karen488]

Glad your feeling more positive. Re bone guarding when I give mine a new bone I hold onto it for quite along time (in front of the telly I was paranoid about food guarding and it's the one thing I worked v hard on. I also used to approach them with a v high value treat when they had bones and getting them to take it but never took the bones away.

[Mel]

My battery is almost flat but welcome to the world of Taliesin.

You have had some really useful advice but having suffered this myself for a long time, I have a few pointers for you.I shall post them in the morning when the battery is charged.

Do not give up hope

[Mel]

Ok battery charged now.

First off the one thing you need to nip in the bud right now is the potential to snap and guard.

As said before, hand feed him his dinner and hand feed lots of high value treat, including holding onto bones while he is eating them and also sometimes sit on the settee with his food in a bowl and make him have to stand on you and be at close range whilst he eats from the bowl. This will help to eliminate the fear of your hands. Also you can remove and give back the bowl for short periods which gets him used to you removing things with no reactions from him.

Next, play some games under a duvet either on a bed or a floor depending on your point of view. The game can be your hands underneath with a treat and him chasing on top. It will help to teach the word "gentle" without your hands being cut to pieces.

Both these activities extend the brain and build up a bond where neither of you feel threatened.

Other good stimulating games include find and fetch - placing treats all over the house for Archie to sniff out. Make the places increasingly more complicated to reach.

To me, the guarding issues are rather more like trying to gain your attention. Tali still does, especially whilst moving at the moment, bark, dig at anything on the ground and steal my things with terrible snarling if I try to retrieve it. However he has very good bite inhibition so he kicks up merry hell but noise is as far as he goes.

Tali again took forever to toilet train. Again I do agree more walks or outside time but do not fret it will come. He is only 9 months.

With regard the howling during lessons; try putting him behind the gate even when there isn't anyone there so he can howl without disturbing anyone and eventually by only acknowledging good behaviour, he will get used to being separated from you.

Does he howl when you go out?

You are not a failure. Tali is my third cocker and is the most time consuming. He barks at noises here because people have shouted through the letterbox and the postie wound him up from a young age.  He hates the noise of the lift but I have the luxury of knowing he doesn't do this at the new house.

Try to locate which noises cause him the most distress and post back to let us know.

I hope some of that has been useful.

[Cockertime Blues]

Hi, I'm full of admiration for how you're tackling everything.

Further down the line maybe, when you're getting somewhere with more pressing issues, I wondered if you have friends you could explain the situation to who would act as stooge "visitors" to get Archie more relaxed with visitors.  Or maybe you could get your paying students on side, explain the problem and how you are tackling it, and how they could react to help you and Archie.  You are probably terribly embarrassed every time they come to the house (I know I was with Molly because I didn't have the perfect dog - very far from it) and anything to make you relaxed and less stressed would be useful.

Wishing you all the best.  Keep us posted.
Diane

[Archie bean]

Thanks again for the great replies. Mel, I know you know exactly how I'm feeling after having had an easy peasy Kelynen furbaby!!
We've actually had a really good couple of days. 

I've just played the duvet game with him. Brilliant. He loved it! He's had no need to go out overnight - phew. He's totally housetrained in the day - he asks if he needs to, it's just the odd nighttime poo that he doesn't feel the need to wake me for!
He doesn't guard food so there's no problem with me putting my hands in his bowl etc. It's more an issue with stolen items of my clothing and occasionally bones, but not always. He had a bone on Sunday and let me hold it for him - he actually brought it to me and chewed at my feet while I stroked his head. No problems at all. Really lovely.
The pupil issue is going to be a long work in progress. I've tried explaining to them but most don't have dogs and as some are very young they go by their parents' response which isn't always great as they just say things like "I've heard you should spray a water pistol at them" etc.
Do you think I should write a letter to them all thanking them for their patience and explaining exactly how to behave around him? I think when he's bouncing about behind the stairgate they dont really listen to what I'm trying to say. Woukd that come over a bit odd/rude??
1st training class tomorrow. Wish us luck!!

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Good luck for tomorrow. I'm sure your handsome boy will do you proud, it'll just take a bit of patience

[8 Hairy Feet]

Hi Emma,
you sound much more positive
All the best for your class, I hope you
both enjoy it as well as get some forward
progress.
As to your pupils I couldn't  say but someone
will give you good advice...
Yay! onwards and upwards go Emma and Archie
steffxxx

[Jonnydog]

Glad things are going better with Archie. Good luck at the class tonight. I've been using some tiny pieces of leftover sausage as training treats in our class because Penny wasn't focussed on me - too busy watching the other dogs, especially a couple of barky ones she doesn't feel comfortable with. I don't know what it is about sausage but it works a treat! Maybe you should try sausage with Archie.

Oh, and when Jonny was a pup, we frequently found items of our clothing,especially socks, decorating the golf course where we often walk! He was a terror for nicking things. I even went so far as to install a baby gate so he couldn't get to the bedrooms, since I never managed to train the family to pick up their socks 

[elaine.e]

Do you think I should write a letter to them all thanking them for their patience and explaining exactly how to behave around him? I think when he's bouncing about behind the stairgate they dont really listen to what I'm trying to say. Woukd that come over a bit odd/rude??

That sounds like a really good idea to me, especially if you can keep it lighthearted and fairly brief while pointing out that he's still a puppy and is a work in progress

Good luck with your training class tomorrow.