eyemamom, are you working with a trainer one-on-one? Am curious, as I am looking at starting training classes with our new beagle Z. Found out her backstory yesterday, and also learned that her sister, who was briefly on the rescue site when I was looking at dogs, is available. I am tempted to adopt Z’s sister, but noone else is going to help me with one dog, much less two.
Ooh your pup is so cute!! I would love a big dog but I can’t stand the fur. I have a miniature poodle and he is soooo barky!
My daughter’s co-worker brings his bernadoodle to work. I swear it looks like a giant stuffed animal, talk about cute!!
@CountingDown - yes I’m working one on one with a trainer, she comes to the house once a week, a few times she came and worked with the dog by herself. I follow the clicker training. She also trains service animals. I could sit and watch her, she’s very young, but really good.
I had a moment thinking about 2, I get that dogs are pack animals, but she’s going to be big, she’s already half a horse, I don’t think unless I lived in a barn that 2 could fit here!
We had a computer guy here today so I put her harness on her and made her stay on the leash while he was here. I had him ignore her. After a few minutes she calmed down and I ended up getting her to lay down next to him, still on the leash. I walked her away as he was going, she was ready to tackle him to play and make sure she got her fair share of attention before he left. If I have notice that’s fine, but the postman and other people just show up. But I figure this is a good first step.
I find the dog training fascinating.
Also, hiwbdies one become a dog trainer or a service dog trainer?
@MYOS1634 Another plug for APDT (Association of Professional Dog Trainers). Here’s an intro link on becoming a trainer: https://apdt.com/resource-center/career/
We take our Briard to classes at an APDT member school. It’s very positive, sensible, and dog-friendly. Dovetails nicely with clicker training; instead of a clicker, we use a marker word. The philosophy is very similar from everything I’ve heard.
A regular trainer and crate training is the way to go. Our Goldendoodle (half golden retriever, half poodle) is so well behaved now after 6 months of training. Well worth the effort. My SIL recently got a Wheaten Terrorist (I mean Terrier) who is out of control because they waited way too long to train the puppy properly. Good luck!
Thank you so much!
Regarding your H and the puppy, my ex wouldn’t practice with our pup or take him to most classes. Then was unhappy when the dog was much more obedient with me than with you. I’d suggest you continue classes — you pretty literally can’t have a dog that is too well trained, and I assume she is still growing. (And her picture is very cute!)
@eyemamom I would enjoy reading a pupdate if you have time to post! 
Well - if you insist. 
She’s 7 months old now and when we got her spayed a few weeks ago she weighed 63 lbs so I imagine she’s over 65 last night.
She’s still excitable, but not as chewy and crazy as before. Still working on not jumping on people but she still gets excited at first.
I attempted to make a couple of videos and put them on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGErDrsoiChdxd2bWuuZe3A?view_as=subscriber This is my first attempt, I don’t know if the link will work.
This is on our beach. She hasn’t gone in over her head yet. I had some family here for the weekend and while we were out at the pool she snuck down to the beach and decided to go for a swim herself. I don’t blame her, it was hot, but I have to make sure she doesn’t go down there alone. We live with a very steep bank on the water and right now we’re getting ivy planted on it to make sure it doesn’t erode too much. We have some guys helping us, and she loves one of them dearly. So much so she took a flying leap off the edge and through all the ivy he had just planted.
To the horror of my family, I signed her up for bark box. Once a month she gets a delivery of toys and snacks. She loves it - she loves playing with toys. It’s like living with a 3 yo, every morning and evening I put her toys in a pile on her bed and she tends to play with each one and throwing them all over the floor around the house.
She also has learned yummy food is kept on the counter. Totally my fault this last time because we should have known. We had friends for dinner last weekend and while we were eating dessert she managed to pull all the leftover turkey roll off a platter on the counter and eat it all. Then last night we grilled steaks, hubby wrapped them in tin foil to let them rest and she managed to grab it and eat one of the steaks. Lesson learned, no food left on counters anymore.
We’ve had two “counter surfers” as well, and they sure have trained us well.
If you get a dog like my 2 month old teacup Maltese, you don’t have to worry about counter surfing, lol.
PUPPY ENVY!!!
:x
Okay, she’s learned a few pathways down to the beach that are literally straight down the back of our cliff. She keeps coming back inside soaking wet. It’s awfully cute, and I do get that she loves it and is having fun and cooling off, but i don’t want her getting into trouble when I don’t know she’s down there.
We started giving her probiotics as well. She has a sensitive tummy, I was the sucker you wondered about who ordered an online food sensitivity test and it helped us change her food. But if she’s down there sticking her nose in the sand and water and chomping on various things outside she needs some kind of tummy support.
Hubby nicknamed her the lap pony. She completely feels like she is comfortable and fits sitting on your lap.
Update on the pup! She’s 10 months old now and weighs 85 lbs. While we had a trainer we also had to get an invisible fence around the entire yard and into the water. She goes for a swim about 3 times a day. She literally runs over a huge steep cliff/hill. And man she is stubborn in some weird ways. She’s also scared of things. For instance I bought her a new treat puzzle. She spent today barking at it and just moving around it. I ended up putting a cut up hot dog on it just to get her to go near it.
I became that person and am switching her food to Ollie. She’s really picky and would not eat kibble. She’s 85 lbs so obviously not small, but she will just not eat at times. I made the official full time switch tonight and she ate a double portion.
It’s about a million degrees here and this weirdo won’t just walk through the door to come in. I’ll open in my and she’ll just stand there. I’ll walk towards her and she’ll jump back. So I’ll jist shut the door and walk away and she just stands there looking through the glass. It’s 95 out so I know she’s roasting. It takes several tries and an occasional tossed treat to get her through the door. Anyone have that issue?
My brother’s two are giant lapdogs, too. One also has the same sensitive stomach as your babyAnd in her case it turned out to be some kind of vitamin deficiency - if her new diet doesn’t solve it, check that as a possible cause.
Yes, they can be stubborn, but it’s unusual to not hate the heat.
Squat down at her level, and look through the door. Is there anything in her likely line of sight that could be difficult for her to interpret? All you might need to do is move a chair or change a rug.
I think you need to get your dog an eye exam. I have had 2 dogs go rapidly blind from SARDS - Sudden Acquired Retinal Atrophy Syndrome. With one the first clear symptom was reluctance to cross the threshold from outdoors to in with a sliding glass door. With the other, it was refusal to move while in leash from a brightly lit patch of sidewalk into a shaded area. Another symptom was simply stopping and not moving forward.
SARDS is rare and is a disease of late middle age for dogs. Average age of onset is 9 years, which is the age of my now-blind bichon terrier mix.
But I googled, and unfortunately Bernese Mountain Dogs are prone to a similar disease, early onset Progressive Retinal Atrophy, which can leave a dog totally blind by age 1. PRA is genetic, so you might also want to talk to your breeder, if your dog does get diagnosed.
I hope it turns out to be something more innocuous, but I have now become something of an unwilling expert in caring for blind dogs. Unfortunately I don’t think anything can be done to cure or prevent blindness with PRA, but I think you would want to know one way or the other.
A young dog can adjust very well to blindness. My 9 year old pup has only been totally blind for a few months, but people who meet her don’t believe she’s blind because she navigates so well and is so intrepid and interested in exploring her environment. She is becoming quite the scent dog.
If your dog is losing sight, then it would impact behavior in dim lighting conditions first. Retinal Atrophy is exactly what it sounds like…the cells in the retina die off.