TerraNik

Our pups do the same... But outside they have a water bowl that has a 6.5L reservoir (often gets emptied!) so we also bought them a K9 Cruiser bowl which they can't swim in! Well, they try but the water stays in there.

Jedi rings a bell to go outside. We don't have a dog door, so I wanted him to be able to let us know that he needs to go out (for whatever reason - I don't care if he wants to go out there to play). Some of the concerns Luke W raised are valid, however we overcame most of them: 1. It somewhat discourages the dog to 'hold on' until I'm ready to take him out. - We didn't have this as a problem. Jedi rings the bell and he will wait until we come. Sometimes I don't get downstairs for about 10 minutes or more and he just waits for me. 2. It only works when I'm home and the dog will stress, ringing the bell in vain when I'm not home - This doesn't matter for us - the dogs aren't inside when we're not home. 3. The dog might start ringing the bell to go outside even when it doesn't need to go - You can train this out of them by only praising when they actually go to the toilet, however for us we didn't care. We wanted Jedi to be able to tell us that he wanted to go out. I don't care WHY he wants to go out. It just increased the communication lines for us. 4. The ringing of the bell in itself might become a rewarding behavior - Often dogs will ring the bell A LOT in the beginning, but you can easily discourage it. We took the bell away when he played with it, we didn't let him back inside if he was going in/out/in/out/in... He soon got the idea that if he was out, he was out for a while!

Have you asked her breeder what you should be feeding?

In a nut shell, it's bad for their joints. It puts excessive pressure on their limbs which is something you definitely don't want in a growing pup as it can cause hip dysplasia and other joint problems.

(i) what breed is your dog Keeshond (ii) was the dog obtained as a puppy or adult Puppy (iii) if obtained as an adult, did the dog have any prior training (eg., ex-show dog) N/A (iv) how was your dog taught the hold/retrieve? eg: clicker training, purely positive, forced retrieve/ear pinch Clicker training - though we are only up to 'take it' and very very short hold!! He will 'fetch' tennis balls and 'take it' and 'hold' them, but I'm having trouble transferring it to the dumbbell... Slowly, slowly! I stopped while he was teething, so I've started back up again (v) have you previously trained other dogs to retrieve - if you have, did you find this dog learnt faster than you previous dog? This is the first time I have tried to teach retrieve.

That's great news to hear it went well!!

Definitely not!! 18 months is still young! Of course she won't be able to join the "puppy" classes, but a lot of obedience classes have basic classes for adult dogs too. There are some dogs that we have met that are starting out at 3 years or older! They still do very well.

She's here! Name: Ahsoka (ah-SOAK-ah). Registered name pending... I'll update once it's confirmed. Sex: Female Date of birth: 17 July 2008 Age: 8 weeks old Colour: Black, tan & white Breed: Finnish Lapphund Hobbies: Weeding, pruning trees, playing with her big brother (Jedi), CUDDLES!, eating leaves, zoomies with Jedi Loves: CUDDLES!!!!!!!!, sleeping on my lap or on my desk, sticks and leaves Hates: Nothing much yet! Here's some photos...

I have no help to offer - I just wanted to say I saw the photo of your two in the 'show off your puppy thread' and they are GORGEOUS!!!!!!! So cute together!!! More photos pleeeeeeeeeeeeease!!!!!!

I know that stairs and puppies is a bad idea, but I don't know anything specific to labs and at what age they are safely able to negotiate stairs. We have a baby gate at the bottom of our stairs and carry our puppy up and down. I'm sure someone with specific experience in this area will come along soon...

Naww they are gooooooooooooorgeous goldenclare!!! Carbon copies, just one is smaller!

Oh don't you love the zoomies!?!? I can't wait to see photos of him!! I hope he is settling in well

That's coz Daisy charms you with her good looks I am really sorry to hear that you are struggling with your pup. There are many people on here that have probably gone through the same thing before. Stick around on DOL and you will get a lot of help and at the very least, hundreds of shoulders to cry on when you want to give up.

Gosh I am so sorry this happened to your little one. I would be beside myself if that happened to me!! :D I hope she recovers well.

My pup had the same problem. Whenever we walked along a busy road he would lie down or sit until the car went passed. He was pretty scared of it!!! So I decided to expose him a little bit more to it, so on our walk to the part every few days I would walk along the busy road (as opposed to the back streets) and just stand there with him waiting for cars to go past. He eventually became completely immune to it. Just don't make it a big deal and he will get over it. When he gets more comfortable, I would start expecting him to be able to keep on walking at least a few steps and just build on that.

I agree with the others... It's no problem! Just make sure he doesn't get exhausted! :D

It's hard when they're puppies isn't it!! You never know how big their neck is going to get!!! Just looking at the Leashes by Design website - it would probably take me a MONTH to decide on ONE lead design let alone a whole bunch!!! They are so nice! It's soooooooo tempting...

I have a few leads... General walking: 6 foot lead because I am tall and my puppies are short!! I like to be able to hold the lead in both hands at the same time so that extra length is good. I have a 4 foot lead for our new puppy coming, but that's only because I could only find the 4 foot length in the brand I wanted. Obedience: 6 foot. I would prefer longer, because that means when you are doing on-lead stays you can get further from your dog. Often in the obedience classes early on you are not allowed to let go of the lead. Park: 10m long line for non-off lead parks.

Jedi gets fed morning and night. He weaned himself off his lunch time meal - he just stopped eating it, so we stopped giving it to him. He's almost 6 months anyway and that was when we were going to feed him twice a day. He gets a doggy biscuit or similar in the afternoon as well.

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...een+tooth\ There it is ^^

You are not alone!! Jedi LOVES the stairs... If given the opportunity to go up and down (pretty rare) then he ROCKETS up and down! UP AND DOWN! UP AND DOWN! We usually carry him up and down but when he does get the opportunity -- well, he makes the most of it!!

OH MY!!!!! Cute beagle goodness!!!!!!!! She is just gorgeous!!!!! :p 6 more days before I can post about our new girlie!

I would ask your vet if you are worried about that sort of thing. My pup only got 2 shots and was out doing obedience training at 11 weeks. He got C5 done at 10 weeks.

The club that I go to has a cute way of teaching stay... They call it the 'puppy stay'. You put the dog in a drop/down and hold onto their collar. You put about 5 pieces of food in front of them and give the command 'stay' (keep holding their collar) and give them the food after a second... Repeat until all food is gone. When the dog gets better you can start to increase the amount of time the food is in front and you can stop holding their collar. Personally, I taught it by how Tess described it. If your dog is flighty, just stand next her, give the command and hand signal and then reward pretty much immediately (as long as her butt is still on the ground!). Then you can start to move in front of her. If she tries to move then because she sees you move, try just moving your foot forward, then back and reward if she stays. Then move in front (facing her) and move back straight away. As Tess said - you either increase time, or you increase distance. Never at the same time.

Jedi and I have an appointment with Steve this month... I am really looking forward to it!!