luvsdogs

I strongly recommend this site to your friend. I hope you can get her to read it. My previous 2 dogs were just under 6 w/o & Tilba was just under 12 w/o when I got her. The difference was amazing. She had already learned bite inhibition & has a better personality than my previous border. Is there any way your friend can talk her brother into keeping the pups for another couple of weeks?

On other dog forums with a large American membership, they advise ppl to give their dogs plain, tinned pumpkin for gastro, something I have never seen in Aust. Seems to do wonders for dogs with gastro & constipation. As everyone has said cooked chicken & rice isn't a good long term diet. Rmb have all the enzymes a dog needs which are distroyed through cooking.

It would depend what level of training the dog was at. If the dog was learning a new behaviour then i would want to be rewarding everytime. After the dog knows what is being asked i would put it on an intermittant schedule of reforcement (reinforcing every now and again) That's what I do. It's also wise to never completely cut out rewards. To keep the dog interested. Even if it's every other day/week.

Not many kelpie puppies around atm, at least not on dol. My son wants to get a kelpie next, would love to hear which breeders you recommend.

Yes most puppy pre schools won't take them after 16 weeks. I wouldn't encourage him chewing on a tennis ball as the covering is abrasive & will wear down the tooth enamel. Best to use a rubber ball. Also if you have a lot of mosquitos, is he on heartworm prevention? All puppies will stay close to their new owners. It's where they feel safe. But as he grows expect him to not be so willing to follow commands.

My son's dog Sooty, now 8 y/o, used to swallow chicken necks whole. She would yelp in pain. I then chopped them up but that didn't work either. So I gave her a single lamb rib & she swallowed that whole. OMG I wondered whatever happened to them as they didn't come out the other end. As she got older she started chewing them up. Tilba my 1 y/o border collie has had raw chicken wings since I brought her home at 11 w/o without any problems. She would take quite a while to eat them with her tiny baby teeth. Are the bone pieces well in line with the poo? No bits sticking out? If that's the case it should be ok.

Yes, that's what we've done. :cool: Other suggestions besides a digging pit. Put up a fence to stop him from going in there or lay chicken wire over the bark.

Here's a link to the article I read that changed my mind on spaying & letting Tilba have one heat. http://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html My vet also agreed with me.

I'd advise you to join a positive obedience club. They usually take pups from 4 mths old once they've completed their vaccinations.

I've only heard Peta give a short talk, but she's a very interesting, knowledgeable & humorous speaker.

I think it would depend on what problems the dog has. Strong methods could make it worse.

Just a little advice. As they are litter mates they will depend on each other a lot. Take them out for a walks separately & training at least 2-3 times a week. You never know when they will have to be apart & its less stressful for all of you.

I was thinking of switching to EP but after reading the ingred. list I quickly changed my mind. Except for the giant breed formulas they all have ground yellow corn as the 2nd or 3rd ingred. The reduced fat formula has corn & br rice as the 1st 2 ingred.

I'm new to all of this. I've only put 4 pics on flickr & made them not to be seen by the public. I was only experimenting. Can they still get to see these pics?

She certainly is a cutie. I can see possibly border collie & lab. I didn't realise about the pure bred aspect of the forum when I joined. Although I have a pure Border Collie my son has a mut.

Great thread, now I also have a place to start with Tilba. Thanks.

That would be 'How to Teach a New Dog Old Tricks'. More of a dog behaviour book. I have the Mary Ray book as well as the Idiots Guide to Dog Tricks. Bought it years ago at Dymocks on sale. At the last APDT conference I bought 'Play With Your Dog' by Pat Miller.

I used to feed Tilba Supercoat puppy but switched over to Innova. It's expensive too & not always available or in date. The only reason I switched from SC was because I've heard bad things about beet pulp which seems to be in their whole range.

Check out this link for some videos & text on tug games & how to play tug with rules. http://www.dogstardaily.com/search/node/tug

I laughed to myself when I started reading your post. A friend of mine at my obedience club had exactly the same problem. Her 1st staffy, a female, was the perfect puppy. Then about a year lately she got her full brother. He was the exact opposite. At puppy preschool the teacher, one of our members, told her he was a typical staffy puppy. She has worked a lot with him & finds it easier to walk him on an easy walk harness. But 1st you still need to put in the training suggested above. or - http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/pulling-leash I also noticed on the site, for the mth of January you can download for free 'After You Get Your Puppy'.

Has he been to puppy preschool? They take them mostly up to 16 weeks. Find one that only uses positive training methods.

In that case maybe you should supervise him as much as you can & distract him from going to the toilet in it. Take him out to the rest of the yard to finish going. Do you use a command to get him to go? I use get busy & to start him off say whatever you decide to use everytime you see him go in the right place, praise him & give him some treats. He'll soon get the message.

What lucky doggies, to have their very own dam. What fun they were having. We took Tilba to a river on Monday for her 1st swim & she too had a ball after she got used to the water.

I would like to know too. Atm I use my Canon Power Shot A550 & A510 to shoot video. The quality is ok but I would like to get another movie camera to replace my old Sony camcorder. There are so many types to choose from nowadays.

This is the one recommended solution for dogs/pups that do dig, & I have 2 of them. It's a natural dog activity. Now to a solution for weeing in the sand. Has your pup started to dig up the lawn yet? If not I don't think he needs a digging pit at this stage. If he's locked in a pen during the day I would take the sandpit out for a while & see how he goes. If he starts digging, give him supervised access to the sand, either rinse it out or get some new sand, & show him what its for by digging in it yourself.