Santa's Little Helper

brilliant !!

i do sympathise with you. i, too, have a staffy x and she had a load of (minor) problems when we first got her. it was a very difficult and upsetting time and i wanted to return her after the first week !! but 3 years later, we have the most adorable, loving little girl you could ever wish for. we've overcome most of the problems she had or have got them to an acceptable level, however, there was no magic cure. it has taken a lot of time, patience and perseverance. it can't be easy for you as a single parent, christmas coming up etc but if you want to try and improve things, not just for you but for your dog as well, then listen to the advice from the good folk on here and try and put it into practice. don't be afraid to ask more questions, you will get a lot of help and support, if people can see that you're trying but things aren't going well. i'm sure that if you're prepared to put the effort in, then you'll be succesful. it's difficult, i know, with young children as well but i'm afraid there's no quick fix.

Three men died on Christmas Eve and were met by Saint Peter at the pearly gates. "In honour of this holy season" Saint Peter said, "You must each possess something that symbolises Christmas to get into heaven." The first man fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a lighter. He flicked it on and said, "It represents a candle" "You may pass through the pearly gates" Saint Peter said. The second man reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He shook them and said, "They're bells." Saint Peter said "You may pass through the pearly gates". The third man started searching desperately through his pockets and finally pulled out a pair of knickers. St. Peter looked at the man with a raised eyebrow and asked, "And just what do those symbolise? The man replied, "These are Carols."

ooooh........i'd like to try gmail any chance you could send me an invite too,please?

pingu, you obviously have never heard of the first rule of comedy .................. if you have to explain it - it ain't funny !! let me show you how it's done. here's a small selection (from my rather large repertoire of kid's jokes) which follow a similar theme to yours but which need no explanation and, i have to say, are mildly amusing !! Q. what do you call a man with a seagull on his head? A. cliff Q. what do you call a man under a pile of leaves? A. russell Q. what do you call a woman at one end of a tug-of-war team and a man at the other end? A. eve and paul QED

i think you start here

i'd like to teach sadie to do this - what's the best way to go about it? we've pretty much got the target stick sorted in case you have to use that.

i tried the 'capture the behaviour' thing some time ago. i thought i'd teach her to 'take a bow' & would use her waking up & stretching as the behaviour to capture. poor thing - as soon as i could see her starting to stretch, i used to jump up; run to to get the clicker & treats (they were never to hand), of course by the time i got to her she'd almost finished, so i would run in screaming 'take a bow' in my happy, high-pitched training voice & click & shove a load of hot dogs in her gob! after 2 or 3 days of this, the poor thing was absolutely petrified of stretching & would run & hide behind the couch, instead!! i've signed up for the clicker training club - i think i need it!

hope i'm not too late to join up !! Trainer: Me Dogs: Sadie 2yr old staffy cross Past clicker history: just recently used it to teach 'fetch' then realised that she knows this anyway !! also, used it to walk past dogs nicely on lead. no idea if i was doing right but it seemed to work

lol !! you've brought back memories here !! we were forever making go-carts on the estate where i lived as a child. but the things you needed to make one were always readily available then. wooden boxes, nuts & bolts, pram wheels. these days you wouldn't be able to find all the necessary items, i mean, when was the last time you saw a wooden box just lying around in the street? and as for pram wheels .....