luvsdogs

It's just the way things were back in the day. My parents had outside dogs as did everyone we knew with dogs. They were allowed inside from time to time, I can remember being in fits of laughter when my dog & cat played in the loungeroom & scattered the mats (was b4 mum got wall to wall carpet) all over the place. When I met my oh he had a dog & when we got married she slept outside, came inside occasionally. Our next dog also slept outside but as he got older I brought him in in the evenings & went to put him out at bedtime. He would bury his head in the mat so I would relent & let him sleep there. April my 1st border collie was allowed to sleep inside from the day she came to live with us & I called her an inside dog. Although she was outside most days & whenever we were out. I used to take her to obedience lessons 4 days a week & agility once a week. Then my son brought home a puppy who slept inside for a couple of months then he bought her a kennel & she slept outside for a few years & really loved her kennel. For the last 5 or so years she also sleeps inside. Tilba has also slept inside since getting her nearly 3 yrs ago. She will let me know when she wants to either come inside or go out. When we go out both dogs are outside in the backyard. I also know for a fact that a lot of breeders keep their dogs in outside kennel runs. I've been told by several people, you don't have the dog inside do you? At my obedience club quite a few people won't let their dogs inside, they give you a definite NO when you ask if the dog is allowed inside while others will only let them inside where there are hard floors to the ones that let them sleep on their beds.

I usually begin by teaching a new pup to wait for it's dinner. I hold my left hand in front of their chest as I put the food bowl down saying 'wait'. After a couple of seconds I remove my hand & give a cue to eat. It doesn't take long to be able to put the bowl down without having my hand in front, only using it as a brief stay/wait signal. After a few days they will wait until I give the command to eat. When teaching a more formal stay I would begin in front of the pup, give the stay cue & hand signal, wait 2-3 seconds then treat & praise on the spot. After the pup gets the idea of what you want you can increase the time from 2-10 seconds at a time. If they are still staying you can start to take a single step away from pup. Repeat as above before adding more steps. If at any time he breaks before release you've moved too fast & go back a step. Always return to your dog when doing stays. I tell new members that 'stay' means stay until I return & release you & 'wait' means you will be doing something else like recall, permission to eat, getting in & out of the car.

I have read that the mammary cancer risk is only 8% after having one season, it then goes up considerably after that. When I 1st took my dog to the vets as a pup she agreed with me in letting her have only one season, she was spayed at 14 mths. With a large heavily boned dog I'd be waiting until after the 1st season to have her spayed.

Very possible, a member of my obedience club trained her 9 y/o poodle to like his crate, it took a while but he now accepts being in it for extended periods. Don't lock her in for the time being, leave the door open, feed her in the crate. After a week or so lock the door while she's eating & open it b4 she's finished. Eventually she will get to like being locked in.

You will find lots of videos by kikopup that may be of help to you, this is only one of them.

Have you taken him to the vets yet & if so what did they say?

I'm glad to hear you all enjoyed your holiday. I've only taken my dog on one holiday where we rented a dog friendly house. I couldn't let her explore the yard much because it wasn't that secure. It was funny to watch her when later on the 1st day my son arrived with his dog & Tilba was so excited to see her & showed her around the house with great joy. That was over 2 years ago now & I look forward to doing it again.

Happy Birthday to Mya for yesterday. I feel as if we (Tilba & I) have so much in common. Tilba's mother's name is Myia. Tilba will be 3 on 19th Jan. I too had many tears in my eyes reading Mya's story & it took my interest even more when it was mentioned that she was found lost in Merrylands, another co-incidence. So glad she has found a loving home.

Hello Zosh & welcome to dol forum. If I were you I would wait at least another year or more, to give your pup time to mature & be well enough trained to not lead another pup astray. Especially with 2 young children. Big boistrous puppies can knock them over.

Poor little fellow to have all that happen to him all at once. What breed is he? When he goes to puppy preschool don't let him be bullied by the other pups but don't baby him either. I hope it all works out, & where are the photos?

My sister in law lives in Tassie some of the time & used to take her little dog back & forth. She said she kept him in her car.

I didn't know you could use curash on dogs, it's the powder I'm thinking. My previous dog used to get crusty, weepy sores all over & wouldn't leave them alone. At the time the vet prescribed an iodine weak solution (looked like betadine). A few dabs b4 bed & they were gone the next day. Later found it was flea alergy detmatitus. Advantage took care of it for the rest of her life.

Just curious after reading something on another forum. The poster has a 6 m/o doberman pup that they feed with a premium quality large breed puppy food. In the US so I don't think it's available here. They said they give 3 meals per day with 2 cups per meal. I thought this was rather excessive. But not having a large breed I don't know.

He's gorgeous.

Highly recommend this site for everything puppy/dog & you can download Ian Dunbars books Before & After you get Your Puppy for free. Join us in the border collie sub forum with lots of pics of your new baby. Where are you getting him from?

We had a 6.5 hour drive to pick up Tilba but made a holiday of it & were away from home for 5 days. She was almost 12 weeks old & had already been well travelled in a dog trailer & slept the whole way home in her crate, only wakeing up the 3 times we stopped. I would be too nervous to think of a young pup flying & for us it is anything between an hour - hour 1/2 drive to & from the airport depending on the traffic.

Not to burst your bubble but just be aware if it had happened while he was sleeping dogs have an automatic reflex to snap at anything that wakes them suddenly. Also if you blow in a dogs ear, the same can happen. There has been research done on this in the US & they believe that this is why small children get bitten on the face when they cuddle dogs, they are usually excited & breathing into the dogs ear. But well done to your little dog. My parents had a bit of a cranky dog when I was a baby but when she walked with both of us to the shops he would guard the pram while she was in the shop.

Is she interested in her meals? If so do a little training with this before you put it down for her to eat. If she's not a vet visit may be in order to check there's nothing wrong medically.

I've heard of this & yet haven't tried it but would use empty drink cans instead.

I taught a little dog I had as a child this in all of 5 seconds. A home made ladder was against the back fence & next thing he was just about to disappear over the fence. For this reason I would never teach another dog this trick. At my dog club we have ladders on the ground for the dogs to walk through. There are lots of other tricks that can be taught.

I have a counter surfer & the only way to stop it is to not leave anything within reach. As to the double sided tape, I tried that with my kitten when she would continually jump up on the bench when I was preparing food. It worked the 1st couple of times but when it got less sticky she didn't care. And it was very hard to get rid of.

You will be able to teach her using hand signals, body language as this is the way dogs learn before they begin to know what we are saying to them. I have seen a dog doing k9 freestyle & he is so focused on his handler & so willing & happy to do it that he is a joy to watch, although not deaf from birth.

I crush the egg shells in a mortar & pessle.

Here's a great video on how to teach your puppy to like being left alone. http://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup#p/u/25/LGxhcb-itO4

Every thing raw, chicken wings, legs, lamb flaps with most of the fat cut off. Make sure you watch puppy to see if he actually spends time chewing the bones well & doesn't try & swallow it whole. If I give chicken legs or thighs I usually take off some of the skin as it can cause choking if swallowed whole. http://rawfed.com/myths/toybreeds.html