A swedish visit

[Guest Anonymous]

Hello!

I was just wondering from where all of you are?

I'm currently sitting behind a computer in Gotenburg myself.

I thought to ask and see what differences and similarites dogowners(and the generall dog view) have around the world.

eg. Do your dog sleep in or outdoors
How many and how long walks do you take?
What do you train most with your dog?
How do you train your dog? (thinking of hard and soft training methods- do you teach your dog what it may not do or what it may do?)


I'll be back with my own answers, right now I'll let you answer

[mouseatthebusstop]

:n00b: hello and welcome. I am from England I have 3 dogs they sleep inside. they get 2 walks a day I work shifts today I walked them before I went to work the second one will be just before I go to bed. when I work early they have a work as soon as I finish work. Training the soft methods treats and or praise when they get it right whenever needed

[alicat613]

Hello!
I'm near Seattle, WA, USA.


My dog is totally my baby, he's almost 5 months and is a Great Dane.
He sleeps indoors, usually on the couch, except at night he sleeps in bed with us humans.

We try to take two walks. One early afternoon through the woods, about 2.5 miles, then one later before dusk to the park to play with his doggy friends. If we go to the dog park, no walks at all because that tires him out so much!

Right now we are only training basics - house and leash manners, strangers, etc. Eventually we would like to have him learn some fun tricks and get therapy certified.

My dog is very easy to train with positive methods, praise, treats, love, etc.

[DogPaddle]

I'm in London, Ontario, Canada.

3 dogs.
Walks - 1 long walk with kong throwing in conservation area on the 3 days I don't work, 1 short romp before work and one longer romp with kong throwing after work plus for Kavik constant ball throwing in house if I sit down.
Training - mostly housetraining, walking on lead, walking off lead, mostly praise or kong motivated but some treat motivated training. Favorite thing I trained - crate training - saved my house and now Kavik no longer needs to be crated to be trusted.
Sleeping - Inside. Kavik currently sleeps free in my room, he switches locations throughout night, bed, floor, bed, chair, bed - he's very polite and doesn't wake me but sometimes he wants a pillow. The puppies sleep in their crates.

[behle]

Hello!

I am new to Dogomania. I have been reading the messages for a couple of days and I answered a poll question, but have not posted a message until now.

To answer your questions: I live in the countryside close to a small village called Dowling in Michigan, USA in an old farmhouse with 17 wooded acres. Since we have so many cool places for our boys to explore, they are never allowed outside without supervision. We live with two great boys who have been perfect gentlemen from the very first moment we met them as rescue dogs. Ben, our St. Bernard is truly a gentle giant, visiting the school where I teach several times each year. Max, our Rottie with a great big "ROO"!, is friendly, well-mannered, and loves company to visit.

We needed to do very little training since both of our boys were adopted when they were each about one year old (though at different times, not together). When we do want to reinforce a skill, we use praise and an occasional small treat.

Our boys have both been neutered and microchipped. I would recommend microchipping to any dog owner! It saved Ben for us when, shortly after we moved here, he spotted a deer and took off running with my husband running after. The terrain here is very hilly and full of trees and brush during the summer, so Ben was out of sight before my husband could get through the tension wire fence at the back of the property. Several hours of searching ensued, full of worry, but then we got a call from the recovery service letting us know that Ben had been found! Without his yellow tag i.d. number and phone number of the service to call, [u]we surely would have lost him![/u] Luckily, we were able to go pick him up about 4 miles from home at a very kind lady's house.

The boys go out EARLY in the morning before their breakfast and before we head off to work, then again just when we arrive home. After their dinner they enjoy an outing, and finally one last late break before hitting the sack. Both are totally inside companion dogs which mean I do lots of cleaning and have no fancy furniture!

I'm looking forward to conversing with other dog fans.
:D

[Cheetah]

I live in New Hampshire - USA (just bordering MA). I have a dog, a cat, a rabbit, a guinea pig, 6 rats, 6 mice, a few frogs, and two brothers! :D (a little bit of everything..) My dog, Roxie, is a four year old Pit Bull/Shepherd mix. She sleeps indoors, gets a walk a day, and has a fenced in yard to run around in. Roxie knows all the basics (sit, stay, down, heel(rusty on this), leave it)along with a couple of other commands (ask nicely(same thing as beg), catch, watch me). I tend to use a mix of "soft" and "hard" training methods. When I first got Roxie the trainer we had taught us how to properly use a choke collar (negative reinforcement - "hard training"). I used to be very impressed with the trainer we used; however I didn't have any other impressions to go by as she was my first dog trainer. Ever since i've come to this board, i've realized that a lot of her training methods were very old school (she was the kind of trainer that would say don't allow dogs on the bed b/c they'll try to dominate you and always feed yourself before you feed your dog) Being that I didn't have any experience with dogs before then I didn't see how one sided a lot of her training was. However, I did go online and find that there are many methods of training - her's being one of the more "textbook", closesided viewpoints. Just recently, i've started to use clicker training (more positive reinforcement - "soft" training) because I want to start agility with my dog. The training place (All Dogs Gym - biggest in New England) only uses clicker training with a gentle leader and therfore I have to learn clicker training to do agility. I've found that it is much more effective and I wish I had been using it since Roxie was a puppy. She seems happier to learn with a clicker for some reason. :) Wow...I went into way more detail than I meant to but basically I'm kind of a soft training "convert" or whatever you want to call it. Anyways...that's about it.


~LiL*Liz~

[yellowlabsrule]

I'm is Oregon, USA.
We have 7 cows and 1 steer. Names: Daisy, Memory, Merry, Mandy, Jelly bean, Caffeine, Hannah, and Moo-moo (believe me I didn't name that one! :lol: ) For the cows we use the reward system because it doesn't matter if you hit them with a 2x4 they won't move. They respond to grain and hay better. (horses chasing them to!)

Our horses Mike and Blitzen. Mike is a Appaloosa and he responds to soft and hard (though he can't feel anything through his thick hide!) Hard is only used when he throws mom off or steps on her cause he's not paying attention. Blitzen the Exmoor is a :angel:

Monet the Guinea Pig is a :angel: to.

The ducks Rickey his wife Rendezvous, and the stinking Muscovies Cool and Collect. :mad: They are being bad lately.

The kitties Tigger, Gracie, and my fav Shotgun. Shotgun knows how to sit, sit up, lay down, rollover, and be a pain. :lol:

Finally my puppy Winnie. Winnie is 7 and very cool. She sleeps in the laundry room (indoors) and comes inside regularly. I take her on a walk a total of 0 times a day. Let me explain. We own 26 acres, she knows our property line and not to go past it or into the road. She has a kennel for when we go places or on trips. We have a creek through our property and she loves it! :D She's a happy dog.
[quote]What do you train most with your dog? [/quote]
Not sure what this means, but we are training for agility right now.
[quote]How do you train your dog? [/quote]
With food. :lol:
Sorry for blabbing.
[size=1]I love to![/size]

[wildbunch]

Hello & Welcome,


Currently Residing in Central Oregon, USA.
We have 3 dogs. Our house has a one acre fenced back yard so they get as much free play time as they want. We try to go walkies at least once a day. We train with patience, love and LOTS of yummy cookies (biscuits).
So I assume that's what you would consider "soft" training.
We train for basic obedience but we are hoping to enroll Kimba (Great Dane) in some agility courses once basic obedience has been completed.
We are also looking into obtaining Canine Good Citizen Certification for all three.
All of our dogs sleep indoors. Our hound generally sleeps on one of the sofas. Our Malamute sleeps in one of the doggy beds (choice of 4, we like to let our dogs have a variety)or one of the sofas. The Great Dane sleeps on our bed or in her crate (she loves that thing). Our dogs only sleep outdoors if they choose to, they have the option via doggy door.
How about you KochA?

[eggrolyn1223]

I live in Taiwan.
I take Duck for 2 walks most of the time-one short one in the morning and a longer one after school-about 6PM.And we go to the park to play with other dogs during the weekend.I train her the reward/praise way, not punishment.She lives inside.

[mouseatthebusstop]

hello and welcome behle :n00b:

[Guest Anonymous]

It's been incredible fun to read all your replies, and the way we all live with our dogs don't seem to be very different at all.

I have two small dogs myself. A Jack Russell terrier (12 years) called Matilda and a 3-year old Lancashire Heeler called Alice. They both sleep in our beds.

I use positive reinforcement/negative punishment on both dogs.

We have a fenced in yard, but since Alice has learnt to jump the fence (or use the fence as a ladder) we don't let them out without supervision. We take the dogs for walks 2-3 times a day each about 30 min. On weekend I take them to a naturereserve called Delsj

[Guest Anonymous]

Welcome!

I'm in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA.

I have two Shiba Inus.

We don't take them on regular walks (yes, we are bad) but they do get plenty of exercize chasing squirells and rabbits in our yard!

They are inside/outside dogs (via doggy door) but sleep inside at night.

Our female lays in bed with me everynight until my husband comes to bed, then off she goes!

We do both positive and negative training. I do the positive and hubby does the negative (different opinions, of course).

Our training is basic stuff....no begging while we are eating (yeah right), no barking when outside (yeah right), no messing up the house when we are gone (yeah right).

[Hobbit]

I live in Texas.

Raise and use herding bred dogs > Australian Kelpies and Australian Cattle Dogs.

They are indoor/outdoor dogs. We are both able to stay home (for now) and work with them.

They are loaded with natural herding ability and mostly we want to stop work a long time before they do! :wink:

[Luka-pop]

[color=blue]I'm fairly new, so here's my story. I'm 15 now, and lived in [b]Japan[/b] until 1996, when we moved to NH, USA. Currently I have a teddy bear hamster [b]Obi[/b], a hamster with paralyzed legs adopted from the shelter [b]Peaches[/b], 5 fancy [b]mice[/b], 2 gerbils [b]Goma & Ti[/b], 4 [b]frogs[/b], and a [b]pond[/b] with about 40 [b]fish[/b] in it. I have a younger sister too. I've also been [b]horseback riding[/b] for 4.5 years. This summer, I leased an untrained, bucking [b]Thoroughbred[/b] to ride called [b]Romeo[/b] (I witnessed two of my friends get bucked off bad - like rodeo! My other friend got bucked off him too), and right now, I've been assigned to be the exerciser/trainer of a [b]Morab[/b] named [b]Sadie[/b]. (I ride hunter/jumper). In the past, I've had 4 other hamsters, a buch of frogs, a bunch of fish, a bunch of snakes, and 4 turtles. I also kept a chipmunk that wandered into our garage for two days (I thought he was injured, but he was just heat stroked).

I've been volunteering at a local shelter for close to two years, and I just adopted my first dog, a 1 year old red and white male lab/German short-haired pointer cross, [b]Luka[/b]. (I'll post pics as soon as I learn how to). Well, she already knows the sit, down, paw, dop it, and wait (for food) commands. However, he has EXTREMELY SEVERE SEPARATION ANXIETY and can't even be left alone for 5 minutes (He's house and SELF destructive. Also see posts SEVERE VELCRO DOG and help me with my new dog).

He sleeps indoors right now because our 6 feet wooden fence was completely chewed by squirrels. In the summer, he'll be outdoors during the day, but supposedly, he jumped over a six-foot chain-linked fence at the shelter. He'd be a good candidate for dog agility, so I might get into as a recreational, leisurely hobby with him to burn off his extra lab energy. We're currently crate training to be left alone without killing himself. We're using the "extend your absence each time" method. We let him out for short walks in the morning and at night, and between those, in the afternoon, we'll go jogging with him for about 15~30 minutes. Then, the rest of the day, he lies around or sleeps. He absolutely loves his Kong saucers, not the "fill with food and peanut butter" kind.
Wow, this turned out long, but think of it more as a self-introduction as a week-old member to the site. I hope everybody knows me better now.[/color]

[eggrolyn1223]

Well if you come on a board like this, most people would be the same... :-?

[bk_blue]

I am from Melbourne Australia. I lived in Sweden for a year when I was younger and also spent some time in the US.
We have two dogs- Rinny, a GSD X who is almost 16, and Blitzkrieg, a 71/2 year old blue heeler/border collie cross. I had BK living with me until recently; he destroyed 2 fences and chewed the whole back bit of the house (yes, the weatherboards) and seeing as I rent, it wasn't really a good thing and I had to take him back to my dad's where he is safe and well-adjusted. :( As much as I want him with me, I want him to be happy first.
So as you can tell BK is pretty psycho at the age where most dogs are slowing down. He is beautiful though and I wouldn't swap him for anything. He is neutered and microchipped.
We do obedience once or twice a week (depending on how busy I am). When he was living with me we would go out every day, but it's a bit harder to do that now seeing as he's not here and it takes about 45 minutes to get to my dad's (dratted public transport). He doesn't play with toys unfortunately so he will not be distracted with them, he prefers to play with other dogs and people rather than "stupid old toys". He is an outside dog at dad's but I turned him into a total wussbag when he was with me, he slept with me in my bed with his head on the pillow.
Rinny is beautiful too, he looks very noble in his old age, he inherited all the GSD traits but he's just a tad smaller than the average GSD. He's got a fluffy coat and it's shedding season too- the birds use his hair for their nests. He has arthritis and had a stroke in April 2002, he's deaf, almost blind but he seems happy enough. He got kicked out of obedience as a puppy and didn't "settle down" until he was about 7 (I didn't know him until he was about 8). He is the biggest sook, he will come up to you and lean against you, if you pat him on the head he'll put his paw up and if you take it he'll jump up on you and bury his head in your stomach/side. He loves having his ears scratched and makes this deep groan of pleasure when you do it!