Nushie

When Jager is old enough and i will probably wait until after he is desexed i want to start taking him to obedience training (he has covered all the basics in puppy school) but i think it will be a good opportunity for us to bond, for him to socialise, and hopefully teach him that the world doesnt revolve around him (only my world does) Is anyone a member? What do you think of it? What sizes are the classes? Does anyone else go to another dog club in the eastern suburbs that they can recommend? Thanks

Thanks guys we have some eucalyptus oil at home so i put some of that on. However we dont know if it has worked as Jager has been back in his play pen, he has a upset stomach and has had the runs yesterday and last night so didnt want to risk it by leaving him out today. So will let you know how it goes over the next few days. Thanks for the suggestions

Hi! Dont you just love having a new puppy in your house?! When i first got my guy home he cried for weeks! We had a play pen set up in the lounge room and this was his 'home'. When ever we put him in there he would cry and howl and pull at the gate. The first few days were torture. But he eventually calmed down to just whimpering after the first week. Even then it drove me mad as each morning while i got ready for work he would be crying and i felt like the worst mum in the world. Eventually we got over it. We started putting him in there for random amounts of time to give him some alone time. So he would be locked in there while we ate dinner, while he ate dinner, while i folded some washing. Started out for only a few minutes while i was still in sight and then i would move briefly out of site, so ducking down and rummaging through a cupboard in the kitchen, going into the bathroom for a second or two. Eventually we moved up to putting him in there for 15mins while we were solidly out of the room, then for 15mins while we went to the corner store. He calmed down. It was a really slow process but now he gets his breakfast and then grabs his kong and lays in his crate with that for god knows how long. Doesnt even care that i have left, doesnt watch me go. Me leaving = yummy kong. As for nights. Best thing i did was get him a crate. Granted eventually he will be sleeping in our room so it made it easier. But the use of a crate i think saved me from many sleepless nights. He cried for about 10mins the first night, in which case i eventually just put my hand down between the crate and the bed so he could sniff it and he was quite. Didnt talk to him, just ignored him but he knew i was there. He now goes into his crate happily and he sleeps soundly next to my bed. If he starts to get restless and it wakes me up, i still put my hand down, he usually has a sniff and then he is quiet again. It is also a great way to toilet train. Good luck.

Hi everyone! So this is the third day Jager has had access to the lounge / dining / kitchen area while my boyfriend and i are at work all day. So far he has been great. Nothing out of place and no accidents! There were however a few marks on the tv stand which to me looks like he might have attempted to chew on it. Is there something that i can buy to spray or paint on that will deter him from chewing on it? It is a wooden tv stand. Thanks in advance

I am just so confused about the whole raw food diet. I have read about the benefits but just have no clue how to start.

Hi, I am thinking of changing my 20week old over onto a raw based diet and am just wondering, when some of you say you feed beef or chicken mince where do you get it from? Do you buy the mince from coles or buy it from a pet shop?? Thanks

I have one for my pug and he picked up using it really quickly. I find he is a little picky though as if the grass gets a little too smelly he will hesitate to go up there. So i have 3 lots of grass squares for it and change the grass twice a week. Its really easy to use, pick up solids whenever i see them and empty out the jug of pee every day. Change the grass over on Wednesdays and Saturdays and to clean i use a high pressure hose at the moment. But i think i will have to start using some form of cleaning agent as even after cleaning it still has a whiff of urine smell so i will have to find something to break that smell down. But i am really impressed with it. Jager seems happy to use, i think they are a great idea.

I would suggest to just be patient and if she jumps on, tell her to get off straight away. Once on the floor give her something to play with, have a toy that she likes and play with that with her. Then once she is happy playing on her own. Go back to just sitting quietly. My guy is allowed on the lounge whenever he likes, but we have taught him 'down' to get off. He jumps down and originally he would just turn around and jump back up. But if we took a minute or two to play with a toy with him (while still sitting on the lounge ourselves) he would eventually get distracted with that and then happily chew and not try and get back up. It might take some time, but it will get there. Now we just tell him 'down' and put a toy in front of him and he lays at our feet. Even though we dont have a problem with him being on the lounge all the time, we thought it important to teach him that he cannot alway be up there. So now when visitors come over and we tell him down, he doesnt make a fuss and just sits on the floor quietly. But it does take time. We have been doing this since he was big enough to jump on the lounge (around 10-12 weeks) he is now 20 weeks and he has only been really consistance with it for the past 2 weeks.

I agree with what some of the others have said. Routine is key. Doesn't matter what time i go to bed (be it 9:30 or 2:30) we have the same routine. He goes into his pen to toilet while i put the kettle on and just do a wipe over the kitchen (he can see me when he is in the pen). Usually by the time the kettle is boiled, he has gone to the toilet sits watching me or chews on a toy. I then get his bed sorted (wrap hot water bottle up, put in a toy or two etc.) i then tell him 'into bed' and he runs in. We then go downstairs and the crate is put next to the bed and that is where he stays while i get ready for bed or read. And then i dont hear anything out of him until my alarm goes off at 6. We use the same routine when we go to my mums place in the car (about an hour and a half drive). He now sleeps the entire way there, cause when he goes into his crate, it is sleepy time. Have you tried giving her a kong to chew on. I did this with Jager in the beginning. Means that even though he may not be tired straight away. The kong would keep him quiet and amused and he would chew himself to sleep. He doesnt get his kong anymore but we always through in one hard and one soft toy for him to entertain himself with. When you do get up to take her to the toilet. Make it business only. If you have to, put her on a lead to take her out so that she cant run around, play or chew toys. I still do this now if i want to sleep in on the weekend. Jager wakes up, i take him upstairs to his toilet and i take every toy out of the pen so that there is no temptation to play. I also dont speak to him (only praise him for going) that way there is nothing to get him excited about. Once done, straight back to bed. If he doesnt want to sleep he can chew. If he becomes too restless i put him hand down between the crate and the bed so that he can smell / lick it if he wants and that seems to reassure him and he is often quiet in a few minutes. Also have you thought about getting some of those metal clips, i dont know how to describe them, you use your thumb to pull down the latch? Maybe get one or two of those (maybe a dollar or so from a hardware store) that way you can lock her in her crate (she cant open the zips) and you can get quick access if you need to (also saves you going through dozens of zip ties). Just an idea. We use them to lock the door on Jager play pen. Hope you get some sleep soon. Good luck

Jager was pretty much trained to newspaper when we got him so we just put the newspaper on top of the grass and then slowly reduced the amount and area the newspaper covered. He didnt seem to have any problems with the change over. As for different sizes, if you make your own you can make it as big or small as you like. I think Jager prefers the fake grass i got at bunnings (cut it to size to fit the loo) then the stuff that comes with the pet loo.

I would think that isn't anywhere near often enough. I would be doing it every second day. A weeks worth of urine to wash off.. nothing is going to make that stench go away in a hurry! I have 3 grass squares that i use. And i wash once a week and rinse (warm water tipped over it - not high pressure hose) every 2-3 days. The is what the cleaning instructions were for the product. I cant smell anything unless i am really close (as it rinsing or picking up to move etc.) but i am sure that Jager can smell it every time he goes to use it. I will try the vinegar and see how that goes. Thanks guys

Have you checked his teeth? Have a look at his incisors. I am at work at the moment so will check his teeth when i get home. He has always been a bit of a chewer (of his toys) so i cant say he has been chewing more. His teeth aren't little needles anymore either. Will have a look and feel around his mouth tonight.

Awesome! I used to use vinegar on the carpets if he had accidents so it would make sense. The vinegar wont discourage him from using the toilet will it?? I suppose if i rinse it off it shouldnt leave a strong scent behind.

Hey guys, I have a pet loo and i clean the grass weekly with a high pressure hose. However, it doesn't seem to get rid of the urine smell, and i think it is starting to putting Jager off using it at times cause he goes up there, sniffs around and then jumps down he does think a few times before giving in. He never used to do this and i dont want to get the stage where he would rather go to the toilet on the ground. I bought some 'pup care' which is supposed to neutralise the smell by dissolving the fats and proteins but it is really expensive and i have used a lot of it already and i only got it yesterday. Does anyone have something that they use that gets rid of the smell but doesn't discourage Jager from using the toilet? The 'pup care' smells rather citrus-y so i was thinking maybe mixing some water but i thought i should see what others use first. Any suggestions??

At what age do they tend to start teething? Jager is 18 weeks and i havent noticed any signs yet. Around what age can i expect it to start?

I bought a 'pet loo' which was about $300. I now wish i had made one myself as it would have been a lot cheaper. What i would suggest and what i will do in the future will be: go to bunnings.... buy a lid to one of those large plastic tubs (even if you have to buy the tub as well) it will cost about $30, then buy a length of fake turf, the same width as your lid (about 50cm) so even the most expensive of the fake grass it will cost around $30-$40. Buy some kitty litter. When you get home, cut the fake grass to fit just inside the sides of the plastic lid (should get about 2 grasses out of the length) put a layer of kitty litter in the lid, put the grass on top and presto! you have a pet loo. And you can make it as big or small as you like just depends on the size of the lid you buy. I live in a unit with no grass and it is fully carpeted. At the moment the loo is on a tarp but will eventually be moved out onto the balcony but you could put it in a bathroom, corner of a room or laundry. The kitty litter will make it easier to clean as it absorbs the moisture instead of you trying to run a lid of liquid through the house. Just pick up the soilds whenever you see them, replace the kitty litter when appropriate, i guess it would depend on how much you put in there. And rinse the grass every week with a spray of the hose, when one grass is drying use the other on the tray. i think that if you make your own you will get a bigger toilet for you dog. Alot of the $50 toilets you can buy i think are really small, and for some dogs that is fine but if you make your own you can make it as big as you like (well as big as the lids you can buy ) Good luck/

My mums dally is allergic to red meat. And we only found out through the process of elimination. Cut his diet right back to the blandest food with no additivies etc in it and then once his allergies faded we re-introduced items back into his diet. Took a couple of months, but he is much happier now.

I agree. When i first got it, i stuffed it with hard to get out stuff and Jager lost interest quite quickly. I think just filled it with his kibble and it feel out really easily when he pushed it around. Once he mastered that i mixed a little peanut better with the kibble to make it just a little harder, then put bigger treats in there and progress up to now where he gets it frozen. He licks and bites the end when i first give it to him and then he leaves it for a bit to defrost and then goes back. Eventually he gets to the point where the bit at the very end doesnt come out easily so he picks the kong up by the small end and drops it on the ground until it loosens and then he licks and bites at it until he gets it all out. Its an all day entertainment

Does anyone know why some dogs lick your face while others dont? I haven't ever owned a face licker before but Jager does it at times. Only 3-4 licks and then goes back to sleeping or chewing or whatever he was doing on my lap before. I like to think its a sign of affection but i am sure it isn't. Does my face taste like mince beef or something? Just curious...

My 17week old is crated over night. If he goes to bed when i do it is around 10.30ish and then up at 6am. He holds for that time. On weekends when i want to sleep in, so does he. If he needs to go to the toilet he barks, i take him out, and then he goes back to his crate and sleeps until i am ready to get up. If he doesnt want to sleep he chews on a toy or something until i am ready to get up.

Hi, have a 16wk pug that we have had for 8 weeks now, and I went through a phase where i would cry every night because of the stress of it all. I couldnt get him to stop crying when i left him alone, he was peeing everywhere even after i had taken him to the toilet, he was chasing the cat. I just couldnt take it. Believe me it does get better, you just have to be patient. Taking him out to toilet every hour is great and i know what you mean about the smell when you get up in the morning. Mine is in the afternoon when i get home from work, spend the first 30 minutes cleaning up poo. Fun! Are you feeding him the same food as what he was getting when you first got him? Feeding him different food can upset his stomach a bit and also just the stress from moving home, being out of his comfort zone and relocated to a family can upset their tummies too. Jager had a couple of days of running poo as well and he was on that same food. So just give him another few days and if it still continues take him to see the vet for a check up. The feeling of running away, crying or giving up does pass. 3 days is nothing, he has to get used to living with you and you have to get used to living with him. Make it easy on yourself and set the rules he is to live by now so that he cant get into bad habits. If you dont want him on the lounge when he is older, dont give in to his puppy dog eyes and let him up as a puppy. Puppy ownership is a stressful, tiring but extremely rewarding. I think it will be a long time before i try it again but i wouldnt go back and change any of what has happened in the last 8 weeks.

I would say it is excitment. If i am preparing human dinner, he has to be at my feet hoping to pick up any scraps that might fall to him. But if it is his dinner, he has learnt that he has to be patient. He sits quietly at the kitchen door waiting for his food, as soon as i pick up his bowl he runs to his play pen (where he gets fed) and plants his bum there. I then tell him to 'leave it' put his bowl down and step away, he looks from me to the bowl to me again and only once i say 'Take it' is he allowed to eat. He learnt quickly that this is the way to do it, as otherwise mum takes too long stopping all the time to him to get out of the kitchen or sit down etc.

We are just letting our 4 month old have short term access to house if we are not there. He isnt confident with stairs so he stays upstairs in the lounge / kitchen area. But instead of putting him in his pen if we go down to the shops for 15mins or i go downstairs and jump in the shower etc. He seems okay, he usually brings a toy(s) over and chews them at the top of the stairs, but as yet no issues. Whenever we are home he pretty much as run of where ever he feels and he has been so good with his toilet training that we dont tend to keep a close eye on him anymore. I would say start off slow. Give him 5-10 minutes on his own and then 15-20 and grow from there. That way if he does get into something, he wont totally trash it before you get back to find him. I dont know how your house is set up but i would also consider not giving him entire access to the house first off. Maybe increase his freedom to a single room (slowly build up time) and then give him access to 2 rooms etc. until eventually he has the whole house.

Ding ding! Same here! For a special treat i sometimes mix through some tuna or mince. Soak the kibble, mix in tuna, stuff it in the kong with a spoon and freeze. Being a pug he cant get anything out until it has started to defrost, but that doesnt stop him from lying there licking it until it does. And it is always empty by the time i get home from work. But if i go out for only an hour or two, it will still be half full when i get back. So at least i know that it takes a while for him to get it all out.

No, no puppy pads. He has a pet loo (fake grass)