macka

Hi First timer How much exercise and mental stimulation (formal training with you) is she getting each day? The digging may be out of boredom. Have you trained her to use the clam shell - ie. lure her over there, try to get her to dig and rewarded her for digging there? What sort of toys does she have? You could try frozen kongs, frozen blocks of ice with kibble, chicken etc inside (empty ice cream container is great for this!), stuff that is long lasting. Where is she digging? In the garden beds or in the lawn or just all over? If it is concentrated to the garden beds you could fence them off.

Feed your puppy at meal times, put the food out for 5-10min then take it away. Your a helping to create a fuzzy eater, If he is hungry he will eat. Agree with the above - don't leave food out - he has 10 minutes to eat it or he misses that meal. He will not starve himself. Having said that my dog also hated Eukanuba. There is nothing wrong with feeding just dry food if it is a super-premium food as it is a complete diet. You can replace a meal with fresh raw meaty bones such as chick wings, drumsticks, brisket bones etc 3-4 times a week. Personally I like the convenience of dry food +RMBs and my dogs are doing well on this. I would not soak the dry food - he is old enough to eat it dry and if you soak it it has no benefits for his teeth.

Few more of the pup pup.

I'm loving everyone's portraits! :rolleyes: Not brilliant photos but here are some from puppy's first day home today... My OH

Hi Meeche and welcome. Others have already given good advice but I just wanted to add that you may want to take a read of this article here: Errorless Housetraining And while you are there check out the rest of the "training textbook" because in general it has LOTS of good advice and has helped me out heaps. Oh, and please come and join us in the Labrador thread! Pics are compulsory! Labrador Thread

Great shot!!! Perhaps lighten up the dog a little? I like it. :D Aww this one is sweet.

IMO much better cropped just about square - great shot! Well I did not take any puppy photos! I made a wrong turn on the drive down and ended up getting there quite late and slightly stressed, so was just content to have a cup of tea and watch the puppies run around rather than fuss with the cmaera. They are very cute, I think I've narrowed it down to 3 pups. It was hard!

Your 4 are so cute. ;) These ones were with the 5D & 85/1.8. In case people are interested: if you are using firefox there is a great little add-on called "Fxif" - it allows you to right click on any image and veiw the exif info (provided this is intact) - so you can see the camera, focal length, aperture, shutter speed, etc etc. Very handy for those wanting to learn!!

Great action shots - I love the "team meeting" photo too!!! ;)

Leia is well and truly a "mutt". She is mini poodleX. The eyelashes are quite amazing - they are trimmed here - if I let them grow they end up 3 times as long as that!! New puppy is a male black lab. I look forward to sharing some photos soon! ;)

Great photos everyone. You guys are inspiring me...bit of a worry. :D Here goes, 3 from today. Oh yeah in case you can't tell, Leia is my only available subject at the moment, apart from the odd dragonfly. ;) Although I am going to pick out my new puppy tomorrow. ;) Will definitely be taking the camera.

Hey Miss Molly, If your camera is in Av (aperture priority) mode then you set the aperture (f5.6) and the shutter speed will automatically change based on your aperture and how much available light there is. If you want to adjust both settings you will need to set the camera to manual. Personally I pretty much live in Av mode.

Not much to add but I know you can get CDs that play baby noises and use these to desensitize the dogs to baby crying etc. - might be worth looking into! Good luck and congrats

The best way to get better at taking photos is to go out and take lots and lots of photos. Post what you think are your best shots here and I'm sure lots of people will provide feedback. Honestly that is more useful to beginners than generalised advice...there are too many variables to tell you exactly what settings to use. Also that camera does not have manual or semi-manual modes like aperture and shutter priority, so you are fairly limited in what you can do settings-wise - but you can still learn about composition and using light to your advantage - get snapping!

My OH and I are both vegetarian but would never consider forcing a vegetarian diet on any creature that isn't able to choose one for itself. In saying that, I do belive though that dogs can exist perfectly well on one - wouldn't have a clue about cats. I know of at least one DOLer who feeds their dogs a purely veggie diet due to allergies, and they are still very much alive. For what it's worth I couldn't care less what other people eat either. It never ceases to amaze me how much other people want to talk about what we do and don't eat. I can't see how it's anyone's business what anybody else eats and frankly after 7 years of vegetarianism I now find the topic quite boring. :D

My filters: *a Polariser for landscapes on bright sunny days, or taking photos from behind glass, also cuts the reflection off water. *IR for a bit of fun from time to time, but that is hardly essential :D *Also have a couple of hi-tech graduated filters, one 2-stop and one 3-stop, this is useful for when your sky is 2-3 stops brighter than your foreground. Yes, you can do HDR in photoshop, but personally I think it looks like poo and can't figure out why so many people want to learn how to do it. A good tripod is worth it's weight in gold. Well, maybe not quite, but essential if you're interested in taking longer exposures....evening shots, night shots, waterfalls... also good for macros. A good sturdy tripod will last a lifetime, but will be heavy to carry. But then flimsy tripods just shake in the wind and blur your photos. My OH and I have a very sturdy (heavy) manfrotto with a ball head which is brilliant. ETA My OH has carried it all over Vietnam, Spain, NY, and Canada!!! :D If you're after something light and convenient go for Terranik's suggestion.

Go the 40D!!! :p (that's what I have) My OH and I used to have a 40D and a 5D but we recently upgraded the 40D to a 1DsII so that we could both have full frame. 40D is a brilliant camera, lovely big display, feels nice in the hands, and so easy to use. In many ways it was nicer to use than our new camera. I gave it to my mum as her old canon had broken. Monah what lenses do you have access to?

Thanks Justice. Beautiful photo. Have seen your dogs in the SBT thread; they are stunning.

Ok this was not taken this month but it's my favourite portrait of Leia so I thought I'd share it anyway. Here is one from today...portrait of a dragon fly. Was using totally the wrong lens for this but only had a sec to grab the shot.

Way to go Bella! Don't make the mistake of letting your guard down too early now - you can't overdo the taking them outside thing. Give her every chance to succeed and I'm sure she will get it in no time.

Obedience classes really helped me to teach my dog some self control in the presence of other dogs. Don't be afraid to go and give it a try! Hopefully someone can recommend something in your area.

Wow, that is quite a drive! Good luck! We went to see Steve 3 months ago and I wish we had done it sooner! Our problem's weren't major, just annoying, but now they are gone. And Leia seems happier for it too.

Could be a fear period? See this thread: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=117592 Are you taking her to obedience classes at all?