Big Paws Only Dog Forums

I have slight dog allergies, and I own a Newf. I thought for years that I could never own a dog till I dog sat 2 dogs for a friend as an extreme favor. It was at their place, which till then I had to visit equipped with benedryl. But when dog sitting, I noticed that I was fine with my allergies with a vaccuming and dusting every 2 days. That's when I knew I could get a dog.

I'd seriously try keeping more on top of cleaning before ditching the dog! The effort has been well worth it for me and my house is cleaner than it has ever been.

My in-laws had a springer spaniel that would go that crazy in snow... well, come to think about it she was that crazy in any weather 

I swear she had the energy level of a hummingbird.

LOL, okay, I just received a few pics:

Diesel just came back from a two week vacation up north, in Gold Bridge. To give you an idea of the place, the town center has a total population of 44 people.

My in-laws took him down to their cabin while we had our holiday work rush, which is one of the most intense rushes of the year. They brought him on ski-doo runs, on snow shoe hikes, let him play in the snow on their acre. He came back yesterday evening, and my, he beefed up!

Now the dog is back, our rush is over and life is back to normal. Well, maybe it will be once we clean up the house, restock the fridge and re-crate-train the dog!  Ah well!

I need all the advice I can get on this one!

So far I do practices, back and forth with my hubby, randomly in the house, where he gets praise then treat. It's not really cutting it.

He's great at it if a treat is the best reward around at the time, but if there is a better reward, say like another dog, a squirrel or an idiot at the dog park giving him a treat, it's over.

At that point I'll slowly walk over and leash him for a bit, or leave if he really annoyed me, but by that time, I'm not sure if he can put "not coming when called" together with "no more off-leash". The time discrepancy between this action/reaction seems a bit big for a dog.

I want to achieve better than this, any suggestions?

I've always wanted to call 2 males Jeckyll and Hyde 

For boy/girl, Sunny and Cher, Cleo (patra) and Caesar, Napoleon and Josephine?

Lol, what about John and Yoko? Yoko the b...   

I wish you were a neighbor, I've got so many goodies, and we're not even done yet! So far theres the pickled beets the spicy long beans, herb and garlic, pomegranate jam, the pear jam...

I've somehow singed some of the skin on my fingers from the garlic, could you believe that! Pretty strong stuff... Then the beet juice dye and the Mega Finger and all, I'm looking pretty mangled, lol.