tikira

You are not being overly anxious. You know Gracie better than anyone else,so trust your instincts. This same situation happened to us last year- We had lost our eldest dog, and wanted two dogs, badly. We knew that our border Collie was going to be "stand offish" with a new addition, so we did several things We took her out a lot before getting puppy. We chose our puppy carefully, not too over confident, not submissive He had spent 8 weeks around working dogs Male, because we had a female already We bought home scent marked blankets before he came home We introduced them on neutral graound, ( she would not look at this intruder!) We made sure puppy was safe, and could be isolated, and that Kira had a place of her own. We had 3 weeks of ears back, lip lifting and avoidance tactics. We conbsidered our options to rehome the puppy if necessary! We walked them together several times a day, she ignored him when having fun We had her sniff him at every chance. Treats were abundant when she even looked at him. Good things happened when Puppy was around! We cut Kira lots of slack, she had become the only dog, and had to re-adjust to a crazy puppy annoying her. Then one day a switch clicked, and she play bowed, and then full on played with him.....it has been nothing but love ever since. We knew Kira would not hurt a puppy, but had to keep Jingo safe. Think about Gracie, and plan, plan, plan. Do your homework which you are doing, and trust your instincts. I am sure you will all be fine, but having plans work best! Good luck, and we all look forward to hearing how the journey for you all goes. Cheers Di

Strange indeed, but then dogs are strange creature. I have no idea how to help, but I tried everything with my boy. Sometimes he would get on the front deck and freeze. Nothing could get him to move! Our nephews dog, who is usually glued to people will sometimes refuse to come in either at night, for no reason, even in the midst of minus temperatures! Who knows!!!!!!But good luck with answaers.

Congratulations on your new addition It is a scary feeling after so long between puppies, but you will be fine. Every puppy is different, even within the same breed, so you will adapt to your little girls differences. With us Jingo is a totally different dog to Tip.....TOTALLY. We had to set up a safe zone, as Kira was a little resistant to another dog at first. This worked brilliantly for us. We put Jingo's crate under the dining room table, then built a puppy bedroom around that. It was out of the way as we don't use the table much, but was within sight of us and kira. Now we have removed the pen, but he sleeps every night in his open crate! It is truely his safe place. It is so easy when we go away, as even "outside dog" people are happy for him to sleep inside in his crate. It is brilliant for the vet, the best thing we ever did. It was easy for us as his breeder kept him and his family in a crate inside the house at night, so it never once phased him. Wayne slept on the floor close by for few days, but he never even cried. We also set up a bed under the computer desk too, as I spend my day at the computer, and he is the best foot warmer ever, and I know he is safe from snakes. Snakes are our big worry, and we have a 5 foot paling fence on a cememt base, and as few gaps as possible. I am not sure about your acreage, but an electric containment system might not work very well on snakes, (or toddlers) I am sure you will come up with a system that works for your circumstances before puppy comes home, but great to see you are doing the research early. I can't wait to see piccies of your new little one, and will enjoy hearing updates as you try to keep the excitement level down during the long wait you have! Di

This has been such a beautiful fairytale journey. Be Bop is one lucky dog, and your hubby has a verycaring and thoughful wife! Let the fun times begin. Enjoy one of the best journeys you will ever take..... both the ups and the downs. PLEASE keep us updated with photo's and posts, and questions. Di

Great news, and good work from all concerned to get to this stage. She is super cute, you ar very right about that. Di

Beautiful photo's of a very handsome boy. Happy Birthday Ronin

We are on 5 acres, but when we were living in the centre of town we STILL had snakes in our backyard. There is just no escape from them! The biggest risk with snakes is when you decide to attempt to kill them..... they get a tad upset about that! Vigilence and preparedness is the only answer, and obviously that is not too effective either. Di

I am so sorry to hear about Dash. Be vigilent everyone, snakes can be anywhere. I lost my Jack Russell last March after doing all I could to snake-proof" the yard, close palings, palings on the horizonal bottom of fence, cement under, no rubbish, shrubs, water etc in yard, outside 5 acres kept short.... but still they came, and as good a snaker as he was, he was not good enough this day. Now my new boy is 15 months old, and I fear the worst, he is not as savvy as Tip was, so I am concerned! Thanks for the reminder for vigilance. Di

Happy birthday to both Fritz and Didi, our pupstars have grown up. Di

I am so sorry to hear of your loss. Losing a beloved pet is one of the hardest things you will ever face, and sadly, sometimes guilt can make this all the harder to bear. Take care of yourself, allow yourself to cry, rant, rave, scream, whatever makes you feel better for a moment. Remembering the good times will come, I did not believe that when the understanding people on DOL told me, but it will happen. In the meantime I found it helped to write it all down, the memories as they washed over me, the grief I felt, everything. Besides the guilt I felt for not being able to hold my boy during the final few minutes of his life still haunt me, but I know he chose to pass when I was not watching him, he did not want me to have that final excruciating memory! That is how I choose to look at it. I spent a lot of time processing photo's of him and making tributes too, but by far the best thing was to put it all down on DOL. We really understand and empathise, after all, this is something we all have gone through or will go through, and hearing how others coped with their grief was helpfulto me. Take care and be kind to yourself. Rest easy Bluff boy. Di .

No photo, but a story from this morning The ambush was carefully planned! There was no escape- they had been taught by the master. The mouse was doomed. Jingo took the flank, whilst Kira choose the direct approach stalking carefully, quietly and patiently they closed in. Soon it would be over for the little furry rodent. Then movement, the mouse bonded off its vantage point just above Kira's head height, where it had waited for its chance. So quick that the dogs did not even see it. Super mouse gracefully sailed over Kira's head and escaped under the computer desk, leaving the master mousers still examining the scene of the crime. Tip would have been cringing in his grave! Just wish we had a video going at the time.

What? She sleeps sometimes? Lucky you, make the most of that and recoup while she snoozes. Waht a gorgeous little girl- but I am a little biased towards Jack Russells!Thanks for persevering with the photo Kirty, and have fun- I know she will. Di

Sleeping position # 384......Fondly referred to as "upside down dog" Taken just seconds prior to Kira falling off the lounge!

Iam so sorry to hear this heartbreaking news, they do leave the biggest hole in your lives, and I know how hard you worked to make his final months as happy as you possibly could. The white sheppie world is a poorer place now without your beautiful boy. Hugs to you in this dreadful time. Di

Having had two of them, I would say it seems normal to me. There are definite variations within the breed though, Tip was a "back chatter". He always had to have the last word, and it took a lot to train him out of this behaviour, but we won that battle- for the most part!. Jingo is still at 14 months, very mouthy, but very gently luckily. Consistency has done little to discourage this, but luckily he is easily distracted. I guess there are Jack Rssell's who are both..... They are definitely a challenge,as I guess all breeds are in one way or another, but we are up for that challenge, it keeps us on our toes! Di

Yes, Jingo did get spoiled yesterday, but that is nothing new, but he spoils us too, makining sure that my slippers are nicely fluffed (shaken), each time I leave them, lol. Clover, Jingo is not from a registered breeder, he came from a friend who is on a farm, and had pups raised and socialised with working dogs, which was our main criteria as the registered breeders we were on a waiting list for were concerned that we had a border Collie. The vet who looks after both the parents and grandparents of Jingo adopted Jingo's brother, so we took the risk! Thanks all, Jingo bought me out of a depression I went through when Tip lost his fight with a brown snake in March last year, but now I am smiling again- all the time! Di

One year ago today we bought Jingo home. He has bought the sunshine back into my life, and is the best (well most of the time anyway!)

2. Seems perfect to us. One was dreadful, so quiet and Kira seemed bored and depressed. When we have our nephews dog the dynamics change, and the Jack Russell (Firstly Tippy and now Jingo), get ganged up on by Kira and Rollie, and they never stop rumbling..... it is exhausting! Di

The first pic got a huge "aww" out of me. Lovely. Di

Yes, yes, yes . All this impacted our choice of all our pups. Di

Are you making it the most exciting thing in the world for puppy to come to you.... the BEST treats, Llots of happy praise etc? What is in it for Puppy to come to you???? Make sure you never call it to you if it is going to get into trouble..... you soon teach a pup that sometimes it is a bad thing to come to you. Play lots of "come" games, if you have another person, sit on the floor, and take turns in calling puppy yo you, tap the floor, make silly sounds,use squeaky toys, use the words puppy puppy if it is not yet sure of it's name.... whatever it akes to get puppy to you, thrn huge high pitched voice praise, and yummy treats, then the other person calls it... rinse and repeat. It takes time to develop a bond, puppies arent born knowing what we want them to do, so my best advice to you if this is your first dog is to take it to puppy classes when its second injections are over and have kicked in, , and it is safe to socialise the puppy. Maybe before then find a dog training facility in your area, and go there without your pup and pick up some early pointers. Look at puppy training info online, there is so much out there. Owning a puppy is not easy, but the time investment is worth it, this first uncertainty for you both will pass, you just need to learn how to get through to this particular puppy. Good luck, and I think we need piccies of your new addition, and a name too! Di

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, on here and via PM. I appreciate it , and Dad was teary and so comforted by the fact that complete strangers are sending sympathies. We spent the weekend with him, and it was so hard to see him tear up when he thought of his Buddy, he told me another farmer once asked what sort of dog Buddy was, his answer ..."He is not a dog, he is my mate" Sums up their relationship perfectly. We had this photo enlarged for him. and it is sitting right near his lounge chair. He knows he will begin to recover from this new whammy eventually, but is worrying now that things usually come in threes. He is not counting the prolonged drought as one of the "three" things that has affected him this year, so hopefully me telling him that the drought counts, has allayed his fears there a little. Thanks for the support. Di

I was so sorry to hear you had lost Lace. Dreams are a two edged knife, one side cuts really deep, and we wake in tears. The other side, if we allow it to, can be a brief moment in time when it feels like they are still with us, and it is in those precious moments that I know my boy Tip has visited me in the dead of night to offer me love and wet kisses to dry my tears. Sometimes my grief turns the dreams bad, but sometimes, just sonetimes they are amazing. I look forward to both kinds of dreams, because I can be with him briefly once again, even if the dream is a nightmare. It has been 18 months since I lost Tip to snake bite... I could not save his life, and that has tortured me, but I have dreamed of him twice in two nights now, both horrible dreams, but parts were good, and I choose to focus on that. I hope Lace comes to you again in a sweet dream, they are the best feeling. Hugs to you as you continue on this path that nobody wants to have to walk. Regards Di

Thanks Harley. We enjoy taking photo's and have some really nice ones, and our minds are working in the same direction, as I am already thinking about his memorial that I will be putting together. That is the thing that helped me most, and still does when i lost tip. You should have seen how excited I got when I found some photo's of Tip that I had lost!!!! Thanks, this one is one I will be adding to the memorail, as I love it too. Di

Tonight I had one of the most difficult conversations ever with my Dad. In February I lost my Mum, and Dad was alone for a large part, comforted and kept going by his best friend Buddy. Buddy was more than a working dog, he was my Dad's support sysytem. I homestly have never seen a farmer that was closer to his dog. Buddy was run over on a very quiet dead end street in a very small country town, after he had gotten out somehow. Our neighbour found him. Dad is distraught, he is feeling so alome and down, and really struggling. They had 13 years together. The only thing Dad is grateful for is it was quick, it seems he did not know what hit him. Buddy was slowing down, and a t leat Dad did not need to have to amke the decision to give him his wings, which was fast approaching we feel. As it was they had spent a great day at the farm together, with Buddy barking at the motor bike, and spinning in circles like he was a teenager. I just don't know how to comfort my Dad, but he knows how much I feel these things, and that I undestand the depth of emotion I am feeling. Because I have been comforted here on DOL, tried to offer comfort to others, and have noted how fellow friends here offered comfort and practical advice to people grieving a loss, at leas I am a little bit prepared to show him it is not "stupid" or "sentimental" or "unmanly" to grieve almost as hard for his best mate as he has for my Mum. Thankyou Buddy for being there for Dad during the hard times,and thank you Dad for giving a dog the best life he could evwer have wished for, now it is Mum's turn to get Buddy love! Okay Buddy Boy, it is time to go chase motor bikes, and sheep, and bunnies with your bestie, my boy Tippy. Di