Six Puppies & Us

Darn it; I forgot it was on....

Ditto phoenix....have they deliberately picked the 6 worse families. I tried hard to watch this but gave up after 10 minutes.....its a bizarre idea for a programme...watching ill informed inexperienced people taking on a puppy. It was cruel to watch the delightful (and house trained) viszla/viemeraner (?) pup whimper to be let out. Leaving him in the sole care of a totally disinterested young boy was tantamount to neglet....yes I got really cross and turned off! Blood boiling as I type this even.

Never seen such badly behaved owners. You have to feel sorry for the puppies. The best owners were the two lads I think.

It is formula telly, though. By the end of the series they'll be well behaved dogs. I'm hoping it will show me how to get my dog to let me clip her claws [although I am trying a conditioning technique which seems to be helping]. Have to be honest and admit that, having had dogs for nearly 40 years, it's only with the help of the internet that I've learned [I think] how to train and look after them properly

Will watch it on iPlayer.

Oh Tegan....our mad viszla/springer will not let us anywhere near her claws. What is the conditioning treatment you mention please?

My whippet sometimes appears to be a bit lame on her front legs. It's really important that her claws are kept short but I'm in a catch 22 situation at the moment as I'm resting her but it also means her claws aren't kept down as she's having no pavement walking. I've recently bought the best clippers ever and was super confident about her letting me cut them. However, with two of us trying she wouldn't even let us touch her feet [she's fine with the vet ]. What I'm doing is getting a piece of corned beef out of the fridge [her favourite food in the world] then touching her paws with the clipper while she's looking at the meat. then praising her and giving her the food. Also holding the corned beef and saying 'paw', so she gets used to me touching her paw [which she also hates]. I used to think asking a dog to 'give a paw' was demeaning but I'm now realising it's a good thing to teach a young dog. On the utube thing I saw they also used aclicker, but I haven't got one. I haven't tried to actually clip one of her claws yet but she is letting me touch her feet. I realised that I was getting the clippers out once in a blue moon and expecting her to just accept them. I'm even putting the clippers on the floor and putting the corned beef next to them.

Penny didnot like the hair drier so just used it on my self and sat her on my knee so she could feel the air and gradually she was al right they seemed to have no idea with the puppies and no looking nto aabout new puppies I turned it off Yes the young men seemed to have the right idea and the man with golden puppy helping him with his fear I took Penny all over in my arms to get used to noises Hope they will be alightx

I only saw the last few minutes. It implied that all the training went on in the first sixteen weeks so there's not much hope for most rescue dogs.

Rescue dogs many of whom presumably had owners like these
We had rescue dogs and didn't have training problems, signed up for classes and treated dog with firmness and kindness. One terribly ill treated dog became an obedience class star, it took lots of work but she was a lovely dog and is very much missed.
Relieved I missed it, would having been incandescent from what I've heard!

glad I missed it - I feel sometimes that before anyone is allowed to own/look after a dog there should be an assessment done - particularly puppies who are far too easy to get hold of (puppy farming!)
my 'lurch' also has a problem with his claws (they bleed if they are clipped too close) and as he is a mainly field based walker/runner they are not getting worn down one of his dew claws was ingrowing last year so he went to the vets who put him under (at my request) to cut it back and did the other claws at the same time even though it was costly I could not stand to try it myself and cause him pain. thank you for the tip though Tegan - it does seem to be a particular 'long-clawed' problem with lurchers, greyhounds and whippets

Tegan/Hilda, DD2 is a dog groomer who clips claws for a living, but it takes help from her DH to do her Weimaraner's feet! He is a lovely, sensitive, well trained dog, but an awful wimp!

I was thinking about it today and realised that every so often I get these strange metal things out of a cupboard and then pin my dog down in an attempt to use them; it's no wonder she panics. The blood supply seems to go quite far down the claw so it's very easy to cause bleeding. Two more days with the corned beef and I'm going to try to clip them again.

The trouble with our dog....as mentioned a viszla/springer cross....ex dogs trust ....is that the only time I managed to clip her claw I realised she has a naturally long 'quick'. I thought her claws were over long but the merest millimetre cut lead to a slight bleed which terrified both of us.
I tried to get her used to the clippers but she is also a bit over sensitive and can, rather like a nervy human, nibble her pads. When she gets stuck into this she cannot be distracted and has been known to chew one raw. so to be honest we have put the claw matter on hold. Shes pretty much scored the whole of the downstairs wooden floor....but hey ho....tis not her fault. She ended up in dogs trust because her frail owners had no idea how boisterous she would be and she got very little socialising and training.
Somehow she works with us...we are out in the country so she gets long off lead walks and gets to meet other very outdoorsy folks with their equally bouncy dogs occasionally. She's good company, affectionate when in the mood and keeps us very well exercised.

Viszlas are very sensitive dogs, aren't; they...hate their owners argueing etc. Don't they love water?? I would imagine a Viszla/Springer combination would mean a dog that you couldn't keep out of muddy puddles, rivers canals or anything . I did read that even if it bleeds it's ok as long as you have a stryptic [?] pen or, alternatively put the paw in flour straight away.

Greyhounds also have long quicks and if you leave clipping them the quick grows further down the nail. I used to have it done for Grace whenever she was in kennels but our vets' practice also offers claw clipping by the nurses.

Back to "6 Puppies" it all seemed to end well enough but an object lesson in how NOT to choose or take on a puppy! Thank goodness there were some puppy trainers about to stop the poor dogs from being ruined. It did make me cross though!

It made me cross as well. Remember the days when people didn't need puppy trainers? Children would be outside playing with the family dog instead of lounging around on an X Box.

And why were so many dogs running around in public places off the lead??

The gay guys were lovely and that little man they had is the spit of my little girl only she is more black with a tiny bit of white but same face etc. He had a really funny personality but was great in front of the camera.

The labradoodle had me in tears at the end when he got the young woman to her party. He just seemed to know what to do when travelling with her, a lovely dog. But yes, some of the others didn't seem to have a clue and some picked the wrong breed for their family in my opinion.

On dogs claws - if you clip them back, I have heard that the quicks recedes back so that you can clip a bit more off a day or two later and so on until a decent length is reached again. My dog sometimes has long nails due to her pulling on the lead and her front feet go up, not always on the pavement. I got a great clipper off ebay before Christmas and it was so much easier with them. She lets me do it but is a fuss pot at anyone else handling her.

did watch part 2 (not exactly spoilt for choice on the other channels) and was glad the professionals (dog trainers) were brought in to sort out the obvious shortcomings of dogs (and owners)
I don't think the lovely labradoodle (Lola) would be that good without some assistance from those who train 'assistance dogs' - she was beautiful though.
the border collie/sheepdog was lovely and given the father was an experienced trainer the young lad would soon learn to train his intelligent dog
I too winced at so many out of control/off-lead dogs harassing others - it is far too common - and even when the dogs were on leads they were often either pulling or being a refusenik - a dog should be trained to walk at heel (my 'lurch' is wonderful on the lead and will only attempt to pull if he spots a small furry) but enjoys a 'run' off lead where safe to do so.
When I was young the 'default' was dogs on the lead whereas it now seems 'dogs must be free to run wherever there is open space'
rant over.