Ok you have here a young male dog who is a bit confussed as this is now his 3rd home , if your neighbour took him in as a stray you really have an unknown entety as you dont know his history , luckily he is a retriever mostly good natured dogs and trustworthy , they are very people orientated and while it will get used to living outside it will be better with human contact , You must take him to training classes they are quick to learn as they love to please , you must be consistant too no means no if he hasnt been taught no then saying it 2o times will make no difference , i sudgest you go back to the start and treat him like a pup a blank canvas and start with the basics , NO,sit , stay , ect , Always reward good behaviour and ignor the bad if he is being difficult at times ignor him , he will soon learn its better to have your praise than be excilled to the garden with no company .

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He does know sometimes when I say no, but sometimes he's too excited. As for commands like sit and stay, those are pretty much the only ones he knows. And again, he doesn't do it unless he knows or thinks I have treats for him. Ive emailed a few obedience schools but sadly, no replies yet.

There is lots you can do at home with a bit of time on your hands do some basic work yourself , just take 10 mins at a time and do basics such as sit , sit stay , down , down stay , do one at a time and reward when he gets it right , dont reward when he gets it wrong but dont tell him off ,if he is too excited leave him for a while to calm down or play with him a bit first so he is a litltle worn out when you want him to concentrate , also heal work can be done in the garden , hold a treat at your side just by his head while you slowly walk as you step off use the command heal and make sure he is focused walk a few paces stop tell him to sit and reward .

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Hi, Because my dog is going to be big, i was told never let him jump up at me. He hasnt yet, but they said to place a lenght of washing line round his neck and leave it trailing, when he goes to jump, stand on it. Never push down with your hands. Didnt like the idea myself but, it came from dogs trust.

washing line may cause damage to the neck if not carefull , a long training lead attatched to the normal collar is better if your going to attempt this , but vocal training teaching not to jump in the first place is better than stopping the action in progress as this means he will still jump some dogs can be really thick and not care about the consequence of being tugged back .

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If I try that heel thing, where I put the treat by his head, he will try to grab it out of my hands. How do I make him go down? Do I push him down?

I took him for a walk today, he was energetic at first, then he slowed down. Then I met my friend and her Miniature Schnauzer. Both dogs started doing funny things like jumping a lot and then... wiping their ears on the floor. I heard this was some sort of ear mites problem or something and I need to get some sort of ear drops...? Then some black ants climbed onto his body but got stuck in his fur so he was rolling around and scratching a lot. When he was resting I had to pull out the ants wherever I could see them. I think he ate them off his body though.

I wanted to go home and give him a rinse to get all the ants off, but he wouldn't budge! This happens everytime I walk him. I think he doesn't want to go home! (usually he will come after a few minutes). He just lay on the grass, and I thought he was going to fall asleep or something. When my dad came home from work, the dog chased his car home. And when I brushed his fur, some ants came on the brush. That's just what happened today. Hope that wasn't boring..

Just thought of putting this in. His name is Toby (short for Toblerone since my hamster's name is Hershey ).

Today he almost got the "Paw" command. (in other words, shake)

And I'm not in the UK, where I think the houses are not gated? I'm in Malaysia, where almost all of them are, like mine. So.. even if we leave him outside, he can't run away unless someone is parking their car and they don't watch out for the dog. My dad bought a long chain (about 10-12ft, I know it's supposed so be 4times Toby's length, but we didn't measure him) to tie him up in the morning before everyone goes to work so that he doesn't run out.

I'll get a picture of him soon!

With the heal work you just show him the treat and hold it so he knows its in your hand but cant get it to steal it just raise your had high enough so that its not in his reach just do a few steps at a time and reward . wow exotic location then lol thought you were here in england.

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Exotic? Err... Not really. The weather can be like being in a giant oven. If you thought summer was hot, you've never experienced malaysian weather (rainy season doesnt count)

I'll have to try that.. Hopefully he doesn't try to jump or bite my hand. He's either smart or greedy, but now he can give me his paw even when I don't ask for it, as long as he thinks I'm holding a treat.