hazel

I have booked Poppy in to be clipped in a little over a week . Seemed like a very nice lady and said that she did not mind if I stayed but that if Poppy was naughty because I was there then I might have to go , which I think is fair enough . Will post some photos of her new trimmed self !

I was planning on giving Poppy the yearly heartworm injection ( currently having monthly heartguard as she is too young yet for injection ) and using Advantage and Drontral as I believe that tapeworm is not necessairly covered some of the other intestinal wormers . However Sentinal sounds interesting ... if it kills flea lavae and eggs does this mean you will have a flea free dog or will you still need a spot on as well ?

thanks for replies I was following you post Blossom when you were clipping your dog .... found it very interesting !!! But I can see the logic in having her groomed professionally first ... especially if I accidently hurt her ( I accidently hit her in the head with a tennis ball while playing fetch and she will NOT fetch that ball again !!!! ) Do you think a groomer would mind me watching ? I would kind of expect them to be reluctant as once I learn they will loose busisness ! Also .... does the dogs hair change after you clip them or will it grow back exactly the same ?

my little pup is now 4 1/2 months old and is getting quite fluffy ( she is a cav x poodle ) . I am quite keen to clip her myself , but have no experience although have done quite a lot of research . I plan on buying some Wahl clippers and either a # 3 or # 4 blade for her body and will scissor her legs ( although not sure what length scissors to buy ...) Also not sure whether to scissor or clip the top of her head . Do you think I should sent her to a groomer the first time or just jump right in and clip her myself ? ( and be prepared to have a wierd looking dog for a few weeks LOL ) I will try and post some photos of her..... Hazel

an update on Poppy My son has had his first taste of time out for disobeying the " do not touch sleeping puppy " rule and has not been so keen to disobey since ! I have been feeding her in her fenced off area outside ( no more chicken stains on deck ...) and have found that by chopping up her chicken wings into smaller pieces she has stopped growing and does not mind me touching her when she is eating . Thank you alll for your advice ... I seem to be on a winning formula ! ( until the next crisis that is ...... )

"you don't want to be disciplining the puppy for growling at your son. It's your son that needs to be disciplined for triggering it." Yes .. I do agree Poodle fan ..... . Our pup does have a crate inside that she sleeps in . And whilst my son has been told time and time again not to disturb her and not to pick her up he continues to do so . I need to be much firmer with him and think I will have to start giving HIM time out for breaking the rules !! I have every intention of enrolling in our local dog obedience school . Beginners enrollments are on the first Sunday of the month so October will see us there ! And I think I might go down to the local hardware store and buy some star pickets today and make a little fenced off area for my pup to eat in , although I do think that I should be able to take her food if I want to .... Maybe as my role as leader becomes firmer I will be able to do so . Thank you all so much for your replies . I think that so much of what the pup learns as it is growing will shape the dog that it is to become , and I really would like to get it right !!!

We have a caviler x poodle puppy who is now 4 months old . She has recently started growling at my 6 year old son if he wakes her up when she is asleep and if he carries her around too much . He has been told not to do these things ... but ...... I have also told him that growing is her way of saying that she has had enough and that he should stop what he is doing immediatly or he might get bitten . But she has now started growing at me if I touch her while she is eating . I initially tried her on various premium dried foods but she was not overly keen . I have now started to give her the BARF patties and raw bones which she loves and it is only since having the bones that the growling has started ( I try and move her to where I want her to eat the bones so that she does not drag them all over the deck ) . I have been reading about the triangle of temptation . Do you think that this would solve the growling problem ?

thanks so much for all your replies. I currently have a bag of both nutro and EP small breed puppy . but she does not like either much , although wetting the food does tend to get her to eat a little more . I think I will have to go the " tough love " option ...... although I do train her using treats .... can I still use these do you think ? She also loves chomping on chicken necks and had a really good go at a lamb rib yesterday ! Should I stop the bones until she learns to eat her dry or maybe just give her one a week ? The kids are really good about not feeding her from the table so she should no be getting treats from any other source .

my dog is a poodle x caviler . I will have to work out how to post some photos as she is absolutely gorgeous ! Everyone who meets her just falls in love with her and she has the most beautiful temperement .... ...... But anyway ... back to the dry food issue ! I actually have Ian Billinghurst book as I tried to feed my last dog ( a boxer ) on a BARF diet , but he did not really seem to like it and I did find it quite time consuming to prepare and as I now work and have 3 young children and would like my dog to have a good quality well balanced diet I thought that a premium dry food diet would be best . ( I also tried my 3 cats on a BARF diet and they HATED it ! They are on a premium dry food and they love it and look great ! ) I am feeding my pup 3 times a day . Should I mix raw mince into the dry or maybe just offer mince in the morning and dry the rest of the time ?

We have a new little pup that we have now had for 5 weeks ( she is now 13 weeks old ) and I would like to feed her primarily on a dry food diet but she does not like it ..... I have tried both Nutro choice and Eagle Pack with no luck . I have been getting her to eat her food by cooking up some mince and vegetables and mixing in a spoon full into her dry food . She happily munches through chicken necks so I know she does not mind chewing hard things but I have no luck when I present her with a bowl of dry food . Do I have to be hard and just keep offering the dry each meal time until she is hungry enough to eat or is she still too young for such tactics ?

We have a new little pup ( caviler x poodle ) who is now 10 weeks old ( we have had her for two weeks now ) . I also have 3 indoor only cats . When they first met the puppy they did not know what she was as they have never met a dog before . They kept their distance and were wary but curious . Two of them essentially remain this way but the dominant female has now started stalking the puppy around . Poppy ( the puppy ) is kept crated in the room and is closely supervised when she is out so the cat was watched very closely when she was out . We started puppy pre school this week and the lady there said that I should let them interact as it is the dominant cats house and always will be and the puppy needs to learn her place . So this morining I did not stop the cat when she got too close and she gave Poppy several good whacks . Her claws are kept well trimmed but she only gave up when Poppy cried . ( Hiding between my legs ) Please help . I only want to do the right thing by all my animals as I love my cats very much but do not want to scar the puppy for life ! By the way the cats are not that old . The dominant female being the eldest at 3.5 years old

thank you very very much ! Exactly the detail I need .

I was reading on a post here about creating a puppy pen with some compost mesh ( I think .. ) for about $20 from Bunnings . What a good idea I thought ! So off I went to Bunnings today but alas , I could not find anything in the compost bin section that would make a puppy pen . ( Even the very helpful man could not suggest anything ) If anyone here has experience with this product could you please give me a few more detail and I will go and have another look . Thanks so much !

thanks very much for your replies ... exactly the help that I needed . I think I will go to Puppy pre school and then once the children are back at school I will start on some clicker training ( more so that I can have some quite so that I can play with the clicker before I start teaching my children ) Had a look at your web page Leopuppy and had great information on clicker training. Thank you

We have a 9 week old puppy ( cav x poodle ) who has been with us for one week now . I have not started any training yet ( except for crate training which is going well ) as it is school holidays and she is getting soooo much attention from my 3 children that it is hard to find a quite moment for her to concentrated on anything I might want her to do ! We are starting puppy pre school next week where I expect they will teach us the " command and praise / treat " form of training . I have also read quite a lot about clicker training and have clicker sitting next to my bed but unused as yet ..... Then I read about the Triange of Temptation pinned at the top of this forum and it made a lot of sense too .... So now I am very confused as all training methods sound great and I do not know where to start . I really only want to achieve the basics sit , stay , mat , come and to walk on a leash . Oh and no jumping on people . Any recommendations on where I should start ?

thanks for all your replies I have a lot of thinking to do ......

We are expecting the arrival of our new pup soon . However not long after the pup arrives we are flying from Melbourne to Canberra for a family celebration and will be gone a week . I had thought that I would take the pup with me ( in fact have already booked it onto the plane ) . But the breeder tells me that I should not take the puppy on a plane until two weeks after it's 12 week immunisations due to the risk of parvo virus . It will be 11 weeks when we are due to leave . Obviously this creates some problems . There is no way that I can leave the pup in Melbourne as there will be no one left at home , but also I do not want to put the pup at risk . Does anyone have any experience of flying with pups ?

thanks for suggestions ... although still not sure what I will do . Do not want to be too tough on a new pup , but also know that I ultimatly want her sleeping in the garage ...

We will be getting a new pup at the end of the month and I have decided to try crate training her ( after lots of positive comments here ! ) While we are home we are more than happy for the dog to be inside with us . but i would eventually like for the dog to sleep in the garage with a doggy door so that she may access our back yard . But when she arrives although I will have her crate inside during the day time where should I put it at night ? In the garage where I eventually want her to be or inside for a period of time until she adjusts to her new enviroment ? And if inside , should she be next to my bed or in the living room where her crate will have been during the day ?

At what age can you start puppies on chicken necks and do you defrost them or can you feed them frozen ?