Klattsy

Hi All, need a bit of advice please. We found a tick above the eye of our boy cocker spaniel. We took him straight to the vet and they monitored him all day, found no signs of paralysis so we picked him up and brought him home that night. Next day we get a follow up call and they ask the question, is he blinking in the eye it was found?...answer was no. His left eye is fine for blinking and closing ect, but his right eye lid doesn't move. His eyebrow "twitches" but it doesn't seem like he can close his eye. The vet said that this is only minor and should pass. We recieved this advise on Wednesday, and again yesterday when I called. My main concern is that my poor boy is not sleeping at night because he can't shut his eye. I have watched him and sometimes he can lie on his right side so that its "squished" shut, but i'm not sure if he is actually sleeping. I would say not because he is yawning alot during the day. Can anyone advise how long this "temporary paralysis" (thats what the vet called it) might last, or if there is anything I can do to stimulate the muscle into working again? I feel so sad for him, imagine living (3 days so far) with out being able to shut your eye!!! Thanks, Mark.

Thanks for the help everyone! We will try to get them out for walks. I am still playing with them in the afternoon, we kick the soccer ball together as they seem to be more active chasing this. The frozen stock idea sounds interesting! The shelter isn't too bad as it has a large opening, however the dogs spend the day in the rest of the penned area in the shade so they only really go in at night. For what it's worth, last night we left them out there all night for the first time after tiring them out in the afternoon and again inside. We checked on them a few times but they had found their bed and were snuggled together this morning. There was also no holes anywhere in the yard! Thanks again, Mark & Suzie.

Hey thanks for all the advice! Let me try to clarify a few things: My wife and myself work from 7-5 each day. We spend an hour with them after work which includes running laps around the yard, chasing the neighbours dogs and playing fetch, then my wife and I have dinner then they are with us inside until bed. When the title says "22hrs a day" thats not 22 un-accompanied hours, just 22 hrs not inside the house! :D We though about this, but really, the dogs should be spending the nights outside, especially as Jezy sheds everywhere. Plus how would it go with one dog in a crate and one not? When not at home, the dogs have plenty of toys around the yard left for them. Unfortunately these are decreasing in numbers as Jezy destroys them or losses interest in them. Basically, if it can't be destroyed, she won't play with it. We have tried bones/pigs ears ect but we find that Jezy will scoff hers and Charlie will just guard his which leads to fights so we have given up leaving these type of products. Instead we had treat balls which entertained them till they got the treats out and then even these where taken apart by Jezy. We would spend a good amount of time with the dogs during the week and this is amplified on weekends. I think this may be the case as well, as it is softer and cooler. However I am searching for some alternative options that can't be destroyed. As I write I just went out to check and a piece of carpet we lined one kennel with has been torn apart. The kennel has high legs which will be chopped shortly. We weren't sure how much it would sink into the rocks so we left them long, plus the beds that are going in there have high sides. Trampoline beds...these last 2 days at best. Jezy will eat the material from the sides so we put vicks or Chew Stop on it, then she just clawed through the middle of the bed. Blankets/towles are going to be the best bet I think. As of yesterday they where sleeping inside. Now they will be outside to sleep. Should I just leave them out there overnight straight off or maybe have them spend 3 hours out there, then 6, then all night...??? As above, we work at least 10 hours a day. We would spend about 30 mins in the morning feeding, cleaning and little play with them then when we return home we will spend another hour with them. Then inside for our shower/dinner and then we would let them in for about 2 hours where we will play or watch TV with them. From here they would then be taken to the laundry for bed. The idea now is to only have them inside for that 2 hrs, then instead of going to the laundry, they would be outside for the night. Weekends we spend alot more time with them, 3 sessions per day usually. Some weekends they are out playing at the in laws all day. I think one solution is to tire them out. I may increase the intensity of sessions with the dogs. However I am still searching for a good solution to keep them entertained while we are at work. We almost bought 2 x Kong Extremes today, but I think that Jezy will lose intrest as soon as she realizes she can't destroy it. Thanks everybody for your opinions. It gives me plenty to think about! Mark & Suzie.

OK. So we have had our puppies for about 4-5 months and thanks to everyones help they are now toilet trained and reasonably well behaved. Although an incident arose over the past few days... We knew Jezy (bitsa) could chew but now she has started on the laundry wall where we keep them at night (10pm-6:30am). We leave toys in there for her and also is in there with Charlie (our pure cocker). Jezy has destroyed every toy, every bed, mats, water tank fittings, hoses, shoes...but recently she has started chewing on the wall and pine sleepers outside. The chewing on the wall resulted in us deciding that at 7 odd months it is time for them to be sleeping outside. Sooooooo we made this: Colourbond and pine. About 2.5 x 1.8m coverage. Our concern is that I think they will prefer to sleep here where they do at the moment while they are outside: and Charlie likes to dig up dirt and sleep in that instead (especially under the water tank where it is cool: To go under the shelter we have 1 large kennel, a plastic dog bed, a frame of a shade cloth bed and lots of destroyed shade cloths We are probably going to get another kennel under there. But I am wondering a few things. 1. They are used to being outside all day and then inside watching TV from about 8-9pm and then in the laundry until morning. I think they are going to struggle being outside. As it is they bang on the screen door and whimper. Does this call for tough love or a gradual weaning down period. 2. What can I line the bottom of kennels/platic beds with, or is there a suitable alternative bedding for Jezy who claws/chews through EVERYTHING? Some kind of "super tough" bedding? I'm thinking about screwing MDF to the shade cloth bed frame instead of buying a new shade cloth. The cloth lasts about 2 days before Jezy has chewed/clawed through it. 3. Should i feed them in the shelter to get them used to it? 4. Anything I can do to stop them digging through the rocks, plastic and down into the dirt? Sometimes they go 20cm deep! There is nothing burried there though. They are ruining my yard with dirt!!! We are probably going to put more rock on top to try and clean the yard up. 5. Charlie likes to bark at everything and anything. My concern is that if they are outside all night he may bark at 5-6AM and cause us some grief with the neigbours. Is this likely or once he is used to being out there do dogs normally settle down during this time of the day? Sorry about the long post. Your opinions are appreciated! Mark & Suzie.

Hi All and Happy New Year... We just bought Jezy (6mnth bitsa) some new toys for Christmas and by Boxing Day she had chewed through all the plastic bits and they were appearing out the other end. Some were cheap plastic ones from Big W (Cheeky Charlie ect), but we bought 'quality' items such as a Kong Wubba (she has already pierced that fabric within about 10 mins), she also ripped off all the fur from the tennis ball attached to rope type toys. Digesting all this plastic and fur can't be good, but we are stuck with what else to give them. Jezy seems to loose interets in any item she can't destroy. We have rope toys but these are only good for a 10min tug of war session. Then she will attack the frayed ends of the rope and swallow them. Can anyone recommend some specific names and brands of "tough" entertaining toys? They already have treat balls and rope toys. Also, we are finding vomit in the laundry where Jezy & Charlie (pure cocker) sleep. This has only started recently and we thought it was to do with chewing grass or on these plastic toys. But it stopped for a couple of nights and last night it started again and the only thing she chewed on was the rope toys (we weeded and removed plastic toys). Could these be causing her to vomit or would it be something more sinister? regards, Mark & Suzie.

Thanks for your help. Didn't know that about corn and dirt...what a diet! Re 5 - I thought so. We don't play favorites and would never want to but pre-school lady said we should...I wasn't going to argue, it made theoretical sence I guess. Re 6- Come is never bad. We only use it when they are outside and getting to far from the house we call "come come". It works ok when we couple it with crazy running motions but even still its not sunk in. We did the motions and treats for about 3-4 weeks and thought they had it but they have been getting very distracted outside and don't pay attention to us. Thanks again! Mark.

OK, I may have been a bit skittish and blabbering in that initial post. I have summerized my questions below if anyone can help! 1. What's the best way to train dogs to sleep later? 2. Is there anything I can hang on doors to stop them jumping up and clawing (inside and outside doors)? 3. Any way to stop dogs eating dirt? We constantly push them away but they always go for it! Even straight after meals. 4. Is corn off the cob (boiled then mixed in) bad for dogs? 5. Do we need to train one dog to be more dominant than the other? 6. The "come" command doesn't work without rewards for Charlie (the cocker male) any hints? Thanks again everyone! Mark.

We taught the sit command first (using smackos as treats) and then applied it to them at dinner time. Any time they broke the sit command the food would retreat. Although we weren't fussed weither they waited for our permission to eat as long as they stopped knocking food everywhere My wife's families dogs are 4 years old, never trained but over the years they just learnt that they wouldn't get to eat until the food was on the ground. Although Piper (female Cocker) spins in circles sometimes Mark.

Hi All! I finally posted pictures in the bubba thread of our pups, Charlie & Jezy. They have been getting better behaved and more responsive over the past 4 weeks and am getting quite pleased with them! Toilet Training - is going well, no accidents inside, none when we get up in the morning and 90% of the time they go when we take them out during the night. In fact we only get up once now! Persistance pays off everyone! My question however, is that for nigh time in the laundry we put newspaper under puppy pads (they used to miss the pads). We are still doing this, "just in case" but now when there is nothing on them, they start to tear it up and claw at it always around about 5 in the morning. This means that not only is there a mess in there each day but we are also woken up between 5:20 and 5:50 everymorning. Sleeping - Is there any way to convince them to sleep later? We try to tire them out as much as possible during the night and then wake them for toilet at about 2:30. We also blocked out the window in the laundry so it is always dark, but they keep getting fidgity and whimpering/clawing at 5:30...??? Fighting - this is still an issue and Charlie is getting scabs on his neck from where Jezy is grabbing and pulling him. Should I start to be concered now? We rouss at them and they stop now. Before they just kept going. Charlie seems to start alot of it, which tells me he wants to play (he often on his back) but all it takes is Jezy to snap at him and get his neck and he's crying out. Will they grow out of this? Food - My dogs eat dirt. When they go out the front for toilet they dig in the dirt and eat little dirt piles. It drives me crazy because we feed them beutiful home cooked food (veg & meat & rice) morning & night and leave dog biscuts (Optimum) while we work yet they still eat disgusting dirt!!! EDIT - Also, just noted that an ad up the top of DOL said "no corn" in their food...we put corn as part of their veg, is this bad!? Preschool - Our preschool teacher last night told us that we need to allow one of the dogs to become the authoritive of the two. Obviously it will be Jezy because she is stronger, taller, faster ect (Bionic Dog?). To this end we need to feed her first, pay more attention ect? Can this be correct? We love both pups equally and would hate for Jezy to be eating while Charlie doesn't... Thanks again! Mark.

FINALLY get to ad some pictures of our babies! Hope you don't mind i put a few in! Jezzy is the B&W girl bitsa, Charlie is the gold cocker. ENJOY!

My neighbour had a similar problem, his dog used to dig holes so big the dog would be hidden it! He said he blew up a ballon and put it in the hole and then filled it in, when the dog went to dig there again he hit the ballon and got scared. Never did it again apparantly. My Jezzy (mixed - with a bit of Lab we think) digs heaps as well and is teaching my cocker boy to do it. We are about to put them in a rocked area so I hope this helps. Mark.

Hi Again Everyone, Sorry for not writting back sooner. It has been crazy here and our internet at home is a seperate carpeted room (where we don't want pups) and we have to run the cable to the kitchen which is risky with the pups around. I have some pics, hopefully will get to up load them from work this week! We just rocked the side of the house and am building a colour bond lean-to for the puppies during the day - mainly to protect them incase it rains while we're at work.. It's going to be really shaded and better then the grass/dirt combo we had before. Plus they won't need the pen so they now have about 20m2 to run around in! I'm planning on maybe putting some astro-turf strips down in case the rocks become to much for their feet...??? Toilet Training - no good. We do EVERYTHING mentioned. Take them out as much as possible, get up during the night, scrub the floor daily with vinigar, priase/reward, training mats...but there are still times when we will take them outside for 20 mins and they will pee within 5 minutes being back inside, even if they did one outside! I also don't like leaving them too long outside becuase they start to eat bark and rocks & whatever is on the ground, even though they may have just eaten a gourmet meal my wife has cooked them!!! Plus Jezy keeps peeing on the bed (and most other places) which I thought was a no-no!!! We bought these great mats from Homemart and we have one in the bed at night and then one by the door while we watch TV for them to rest on. She first pee'd on the one in the bed, now she pee's on the one by the door! And they still lie on it! SO frustrating. We have started puppy pre school as well. Went last week and going next 3 Tuesdays...only 3 other dogs though. Finally, when they get out of control with their fighting we give them the small Pal Dentabones. This calms them down unbelievabley but Jezzy (bigger dog) eats the whole thing it 20 minutes, and Charlie (little cocker boy) has his 50% gone! Is this right? I thought these things where supposed to last for a while... Thanks again for all your help, I print out this thread every couple of days and my wife and I sit down and read it. Thank you! Mark & Suzie. EDIT - Would taking away the water at night be a good idea? I was always under the impression that they should have unlimited acccess to water...this may stop peeing in the laundry (where we leave them at night) and the need to take them out during the night? We go to bed between 9-10 PM and wake up at 6AM. I always get up 2x but if we're in bed by 8 I sometimes get up a 3x. They also start whinning at 5:30-6 AM every morning, i'm guessing because they are used to getting up at that time. Which means no more sleep ins on weekends

OK. So here I am sitting at work absolutely petrified at what is going on at home...It's going to be hot here today (30+) and i'm sitting in air con while my pups are at home outside all alone...i'm so scared for them! I have covered each end of the pen in a tarp and put their water (2 bowls) & food on roof tiles so hopefully the ants won't get to them. Yesterday they started digging out so I have put a sleeper at the end of the pen. I started fencing off the property but ran out of chicken wire. Hopefully i'll finish that tonight. Is there anyway to teach them to stop digging? If we see it, we rouse on them... Also, is eating leaves & dirt bad? They always seem to be chewing on things when we go out for toilet... Breakthrough with toliet training! I actually woke up last night at 1pm and 4am to let them out and there wasn't a mess in the laundry at all this morning! Kills my mental state, but it'll be worth it I think. Fingers crossed they'll be ok today. Can't wait to get home! Mark.

Oh wow! Thanks for all the advise everyone! Today we set the pen up outside. Its about 1.5m x 7m long made of mesh about 700-800mm high. Charlie ( the cocker spaniel) can't get out but Jezzy can just put her paws on the lip (we have a "lid" running around the rim about 500 in). I set it up on the side of the house as it gets a little bit of shade there. I am trying them out there today and tommorow. So far they where OK, but we gave them attention all day and when we weren't there they whigned...I am also worried about ants and weeds. I mowed the grass short today but can any one recommend puppy freindly weed kill and ant control? I would hate for the pups to get bitten by an ant or eat some kind of dangerous weed. If I can reply to a few points... We watch the pups like hawks when we are at home, if I see them sniffing round I will take them outside but they only pee 3/5 times when I do this. Plus tonight I started walking them out and Jezzy stopped inside the door and peed! I am rewarding them and praising them when they do go outside though as well as using the "go pee pee" command. When I see them inside I try to take them out, but Charlie will just keep doing his business as I carry him out! Will keeping them in the laundry at night hinder this? We haven't been getting up to check on them but I may start. Last night I was up till 1AM and let them out 5-6 times, then in the morning there was kaka all over the laundry including the door! I will no longer do the "nose thing". Sorry if I offended anyone by suggesting it but had been told it worked. I know now otherwise. We use Pine-O-Clean to wipe away the pee inside (we only let them on tiles)...should this be ok? FWIW - we never dicipline post-bad behavior. Only if we see it happening. We will be leaving the puppies outside as of Monday. As mentioned, I am concered about the environment. They are just on grass...should I be worried about ants or birds or anything? Also, should I leave food in the pen with them? The will obviously have lots of water and I have covered one end with a tarp for shade. Can anyone recommend a Puppy Playschool in the Southern Brisbane are of Jimboomba? There is a dog obidience school near us and the Jimboomba vet said theirs starts up in October... I wil stop smacking during the biting and try growling. It is only the cockerspaniel that does it to humans. I read in another thread here that growling didn't work and when they went to smacking it did...will try the growl...I notice that when Jezzy bites Charlie to hard he "yelps" and she stops...maybe I should try a yelp too ??? I am just so scared they are going to break skin or do something serious to each other. It's hard to tell when they play. What exactly is a "run" does this just mean a chain that runs along a wire? If I had a sheltered patio I would try this but we just bought the house and only have grass as our landscaping at the moment Do you think maybe we are diciplining too much? We say "NO" a lot...biting, digging, going to close to the road, fighting with each other, chewing on things they shouldn't... Thanks again! Mark & Suzie

Hi Everyone, I have sought help online for our puppies problems. If I may ask explain our situation and ask for some help it would be much appreciated! I appologise for the long post! My wife and I bought two pups last Sunday. One is a male purebread Cockerspaniel (Charlie) - 8 weeks, the other is a female mix (Jezzy) who we think is a bit of staffy, labrador, pit dog in there. Unsure of her age. Vet's couldn't help determine exact mix. We bought them both spontaneously (yes, im a sucker for my wife's wishes) from a produce outlet becuase they looked so sad and neglected. The sellers where very dodgy but OH was so happy and I was so happy for her I didn't think to check for anything. The sellers even said Jezzy was a boy!!! They had their firsts shots at the vet on the Monday....The vet said the cockerspaniel was malnurished and had a bad case of mites which we have almost cleared up. They where both dirty and flea ridden which we have fixed as well. Our main problem is that my wife and I both work (stressful jobs as well!) Mon-Fri and are out of the house 7am-4:30pm. While we are out, they are locked inside with the fan on. I don't trust them outside as they are young and Jezy has a tendancy to dig which she is instilling on Charlie. They have an outside pen and the property is fenced but I just don't trust the area (birds, insects, dodgy people) as we have bushland behind us. May start to use the pen this weekend. They have free reign of the laundry (where they also sleep at night) and also the hallway which runs for about 5 meters off the laundry. We have a bed, a mat and toys there for them to play with on tiled floor. We devote all our time to them from 6am when we wake up, they go outside and play till about 7 when we feed them, put them in the basket and leave for work. Then we return home at 4-5 and play for an hour then feed them, we sit down and rest and then about 9pm they are roudy and want to play before we settle them down for the night. Now for my problems! I have tried to read a lot of the questions already posted and done some research but I just can't find what i'm looking for. 1. Toilet training/house breaking - They go toilet inside the house like you wouldn't believe. We have tried "NO's" when we seem the crouching, we have tried praising & rewarding them for going outside. We have even done the worse thing I can imagine by putting their noses in it when they do it inside. I think this is hideous but people seem to suggest it. They will even spend half an hour outside, then come inside and pee straight away! I have done the research on crates, but everything seems to point to only having the dogs in there for a short time. I know this is having cake and eating it too, but how can I trian them to go toilet outside when we only have limited contact time with them? We haven't been getting up at night to let them out so the laundry is full of accidents when we get up - we have paper down though so it's bareable. 2. Snapping/bitting each other (and us)- I know they are puppies and probably only playing but they attack each other like crazy, non-stop and start growling and nipping...usually until Jezzy (who is 2x bigger) grabs Charlie and looks like she's ripping him up! Its so sad to watch so I say "NO" with smacks sometimes but they keep doing it non-stop! We have plenty of toys but this happens all the time. I'd hate to think what they do to each other while we are not there. Is this just teething? I would hate for them to group up with agression in them, especially Jezzy who we don't know what she exactly is...I don't want to see them hurt. Should I just let them "play" or should I constantly stop it...??? Our family have told us to get rid of Jezzy cause she is so much bigger and seems to be very sly and un responsive to any calls. But I love her and Charlie too and can't see them leave. Please help as we are getting very stressed. I know we are massively underprepared for puppies, but as an animal lover we couldn't bare to leave them at the produce. We are thinking about taking them to a day care during the day, but I don't know if this would be any benift for them as 1. they would be in an unfamilure environment and 2. would they get any more attention/supervision then if we left them alone! Any help will be appreciated! regards, Mark & Suzie PS - I would post pictures but am at work as I write..hopefully later!