luvsdogs

If you live anywhere Quenbeyan you could give this a go. http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=214310

Were you at the workshop 2-3 weeks ago in Sydney CleoJ? Your corgi looks familiar. If so i was there with my very naughty border collie.

He's a baby & needs to learn the rules of the house. Dogs don't have hands so they explore everything with their mouths. Do you leave all the toys out at once? or do you rotate them? You would have only had him a week so everthing is new to him. http://dogstardaily.com/training/raising-puppy

I don't know the answer to that one, but as there's nothing wrong with him now I wouldn't think so. My dogs haven't had HD, touch wood, but my 1st border collie April had a sore on her nose that wouldn't heal. I took her to my local vet & saw a brand new junior vet. She had me in tears by the end of the consult by saying April would need a biopsy, plastic surgery & skin grafts to fill the hole left by surgery on her nose. I went to another vet I knew from my obedience club who also has borders & the 1st thing she did was a skin scraping that showed nothing. Sent us home with ointment & some tablets & the sore cleared up in about a month.

I'm glad to hear that Thor is settling into your routine, he will soon get used to the change of the weekends, after all it's only been a week. I would be very careful with him at the birthday party, wow, 20 kids under 7 will be a bit overwhelming for him I should imagine. You will have to make sure they don't all rush him at the same time. It could startle him & make him scared. I agree he needs to experience all things & humans that he will come into contact with him for the rest of his life. But take it carefully. Look forward to more updates & photos.

Puppies need training, I used the stop/go method which works to a point but you have to keep at it, & she's nowhere the puller my other dogs have been without this method. Love this site, you''ll find lots of videos on all manner of dog problems there.

My first bc April had CCD. The vet put her on 2 types of tablets, one being for the dementia & as it's over 3 yrs ago can't remember what the other one was for. She was always my baby dog & never in her life ever attempted to bite me. If she was about to bite, if I pulled a knot in her coat for eg, she would stop when she realised it was me. She started to go deaf first then her eyes started to cloud over. When I took her to the vet & said she seemed to have dementia he laughed at me. The meds didn't seem to do any good so I didn't go back for a 2nd lot. She seemed to become afraid of me & I was almost scared to touch her, I had to make sure she was awake & looking at me. It was so upsetting. She would get into a corner of the garage & start to howl because she couldn't turn around or find her way out. She did enjoy her food but would lie down to eat & make such a mess trying to eat it as fast as she could. Back then didn't know there was a special diet for dementia. In my sig pic she is 14 yrs 4 days old & at that stage wasn't showing any CCD symptoms. She lived to 7 weeks short of 15 yrs. So I guess she had dementia for about 6 mths before she died. I hadn't had her vaccinated from the age of 9 yrs because of hearing that vacs weren't needed as often as vets lead us to believe & a couple of friends warned me about having an aged dog, after both their 9/10 y/o dogs died following vac. So I chose not to have her done after that. The vet actually rang me to ask why when I ignored 2 reminders. After discussing it for over 1/2 an hour he agreed that they thought vacs lasted about 3-4 yrs but canine cough vacs only lasted 6 mths, so thought it too hard for people to remember that, so it was easier to have them done annually. My son's 10 y/o dog hasn't been vaccinated since we 1st got Tilba & the vets havn't sent reminders for vacs, only check ups. How things have changed in 3 short years.

This is from the recommended books specifically for the 1st week in a new home. http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/puppy...-home-8-9-weeks Also read this thread - http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=213727

Congratulations on getting your new puppy. Things seem to be going ok with what you are doing. A good resource for getting & settling in a new puppy is Dr Ian Dunbar's books Before & After you get your puppy which are available as free downloads from www.dogstardaily.com You may find it a bit daunting if you followed it to the letter, but it gives you a good grounding on what to do. On the site there are also lots of articles, videos & radio programs to listen to. I find the easiest way to toilet train is to take him outside after eating, drinking, playing, waking up & every hour in between. You can put toiletting on cue whenever he goes by saying something like 'hurry up', go toilet etc. They soon associate the phrase with going & keep praising & rewarding with a food treat for complying. Once your sure he's emptied completely you can give him access to an easy clean floored room as long as you watch him. If you can't at any time watch him put him in his pen. A lot of ppl use crates to toilet train as well which can also be put in his pen. In the books I gave there are pics of long & short term confinement for your dog. Being a small breed the crate would also be usefull for safe car travel. Your doing the right thing by ignoring the whining. If you go get him while he's making noise he soon learns what gets your attention. I would not leave him with soft toys because they can be a choking hazard if chewed. Kongs are great & can be stuffed with food & treats. Don't forget to show us pics of Thor.

That's what I was wondering too?

Thanks for that Janba. I'm a member of DogsNSW so you think it best to wait until the 12th? Will see how it goes. I was told that beginners are in the morning. My obedience club trains on Sat afternoons with beginners class at 2pm which I help out with instructing. My lesson not being until 3.30. ''member of DogsNSW and training is $5'' that's the one that was suggested to me.

In NSW we have very little duck trialling or training. Trialling is only at the trial levels not tests and when we do have training dogs are usually required to be a least PT level. This may change if we are ever allowed to trial and train ducks at EP but unfortunately we aren't allowed to at the moment. You would need to find private training or get your own ducks. Janba, it was recommended to me to take Tilba to herding at EP, to give her something to do & I've been thinking of taking her for a while, when it starts up again. I was given the wrong date of Mar 1 which is a Tues. Do you know the correct date? I'm on the clinic lists at Uralla & Binalong but both are rather far away & so far the dates have never suited.

Susan, I know of a staffy owner that uses a sun suit on her predominately white/bl staffy. Not sure what the success rate is with it as she doesn't come to classes much. I've also seen her use sunscreen on his nose & ears. I've always been concerned seeing dogs & cats with pink noses & how their owners cope with them. My aunt years ago had a white cat that had to have his ears cut off because of skin cancer. A lot of border collies, especially the merles have pink noses. My 1st border collie had a black nose, but the skin above what pink & when she was about 2.5 yrs old developed a sore that wouldn't heal. It eventually cleared up after the vet prescribed cream for it. Luckily with age the black pigment increased on her nose & the pick spot disappeared.

I agree, Tilba is much the same. I always used to worry about her being too thin but the vet told me they were meant to be lean, mean working machines.

very impressive laneka, I never got that much done all at once & it took me 1/2 a day to do it.

When I used to do it myself, back in the day b4 the pre-made patties I would put carrot, pumpkin, apple, sweet potato, tomato, lettuce, brocoli, cabbage, collie-flower & whatever vegies I had on hand. Into that I would add a couple of eggs, yoghurt, flaxseed oil, vitC powder, chicken liver or heart & brewers yeast. That was the Billinhurst model. Lonsdale just says to give raw meaty bones with healthy table scraps. For the bones I would give chicken pieces, frames, lamb flaps with most of the fat cut off, lamb necks & the occasional lamb shank. http://www.rawmeatybones.com/diet/exp-diet-guide.pdf

Can it be bought at a pet warehouse or chemist as well as the vets?

I was thinking border collie too. The 2 I've had have been pretty low key at home & active on outings. I prefer long haired animals & mistakenly got a short haired dog after my oh's poodle cross died, she used to always have mats as she wasn't used to be grooming. The short coated dog we got after her & the one my son has now shed continually. Except for when they drop coat a once weekly brush/combing is sufficient.

Back in 1984 we bought a 5 1/2 mth old pup from the RSPCA. They told us to bring him back in 2 weeks to be neutered which we did. Six mths was the usual age to get dogs/cats desexed & they also used to say that they couldn't be done any younger because of the small size of their insides. With better veterinary knowledge they are able these days to do them as babies & also I believe, the shelters do them at a young age because people wouldn't bring their dogs back to be done. Like poodlefan said, hell would freeze over b4 I bought a pup from a shelter that had been done at 6-7 weeks old. And I don't agree in mandatory desexing unless it's after maturity. I don't breed or show but I will get them done after maturity.

Previous 2 bitches had no problem with their stitches but Tilba came home on antibiotics after a bad case of fleas & associated rash. She didn't have them prior to going to the vets. I had to leave her elizabethan collar on most of the time because she wouldn't leave the stitches alone. I asked for the single stitch because our older dog had that & it looked great & she never touched it. But Tilba's was also very tight & didn't look good at all. After a coupled of days I caught her jumping onto the lounge so had to keep her crated a lot of the time when I couldn't watch her. With a check up visit after 5 days the vet said it looked ok, but to me it looked swollen around the stitch. I think it eventually dissolved & after a couple of months the swelling went down & now nearly 2 yrs later you wouldn't know it had been done The main thing is to try & keep her quiet as much as possible.

I think you've made the right decision. Wait another year & see how you feel. I love having 2 dogs & the 2 times another pup has been introduced into the family, resident dog has been coincidentally 7.5 yrs old. I don't suggest you wait that long, but even so the older dog has got used to having a pup around after a week or so. As to your dog sleeping through the day & active when you get home, this is just how dogs are when left at home all day. They tend to be active morning & evening & sleepy during the day if nothing better is on offer.

I know the op only wanted to know about the possibility of mammary cancer but my biggest concern was to let the pup grow to it's fullest potential after reading this. http://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html After making that decision to wait for her 1st season (& I only recommend it for ppl who can totally protect their pup from being mated) I found this article which goes into more detail. http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHea...euterInDogs.pdf

I don't know what happened there?

I was going to suggest a pap, but you don't want a toy. And they also shine in agility.

Were you able to get your pup considering the disaster of the floods in QLD?