macka

Are you actually taking her outside or just putting the lead on at home? My pup, now 7 months, still sometimes has a bit of a chew on the lead when I first put it on, but as soon as we are out the door she forgets all about that and focuses on our walk and everything she sees, smells, and hears outside.

It is a reaction to the vaccine. Quite common. Should go down in 1-2 weeks. If it doesn't, or if it gets any bigger, see the vet. Also let the vet know for next time.

I picked up my girl and she's doing well. Very glad to see everyone at home, tail's hardly stopped wagging. She's been quite content to chill in her crate in the loungeroom with us chewing on a bone or just having a snooze, which is good. I'm really surprised by all the insinuations that my vet must be some horrible money-grubbing monster because he wanted to keep an eye on her for a little while after major surgery. It might not be absolutely necessary, but it can't hurt to make sure that she's ok the next day before sending her home to someone who has good intentions but nevertheless no idea becasue they are not a vet. Anyway, thanks for the words of support and advice. I'm going to do my best to keep her quiet over the weekend and into next week.

I just rang the vet to see how she is and they said that the operation went very well. She's awake but very groggy still and drooling a lot. I wish I could see her but I'm glad she's being looked after by experienced vets.

Keeping the pup overnight is standard practice at my vet for females. I didn't really question it. Can anyone else comment on whether their vet does this? Good to know that she shouldn't be too unhappy by the time I collect her.

I dropped my puppy off at the vet this morning as she is having her desexing operation today. She will be staying at the vet overnight and I am picking her up at 5:00pm tomorrow. I'm just wondering what I can expect when I pick her up as this is my first puppy. How did your female pup go after desexing?

Have you noticed them shaking their heads or scratching their ears? Could be an ear infection. They're smelly.

Well, probably I just need to reduce portion size, but my pup never finishes all of the food I give her. The vet said she is a good weight, and she looks a good weight to me, not over or under. She just doesn't seem to like dry food very much. I have tried Eukanuba, Hills, Eagle Pack, and I'm now feeding Nutrience Medium Breed Puppy, and she hasn't been a big fan of any of them. In the morning I give her a mixture of 1/3-1/2 cup dry food, Nutrience or Nature's Gift Canned Food (2-3 tablespoons), sometimes a raw egg mixed in or a tiny bit of left-over meat from dinner chopped up. She normally eats about half what I give her over the course of the day. On weekdays I also give her a kong with peanut butter and Nature's Gift Beef Liver Treats inside, and she gets all of that out and eats it. In the evenings I give her a chicken wing and about 1/3 cup more dry food and I usually leave that out all evening until she goes to bed, and she wolfs down the chicken and then eats little moutfuls of dry food throughout the evening. So a little of the dry food from the day and most of the dry food from the evening is left uneaten. I guess I should either cut it or cut some of the other stuff so that she is forced to eat more dry food.

How long can I leave uneaten dry food out? Or if I'm taking it away after meal times, how many times can I offer my pup the same dry food next meal? I'm sure it gets stale after a while, but not sure how long that takes and how much it matters.

I don't use a crate in the car, I use a harness on my puppy and put the seatbelt through the back strap, so she can sit up or lie down but not move around. I put one of her cushions under her and one of her toys next to her and away we go. If it's just me in the car with her, I put her on the front seat next to me so I can pat her when she's being good (ie. quiet). Maybe you could try that? She cried a lot in the car at first, but now she just lies down and goes to sleep. It took a few weeks of regular car trips o get her used to it. Also, car trips can't all be to the vet, they have to end in something fun from time to time, like a trip to the park, or to a friend's house to meet new people.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I have bought her a crate and will start out with it in the bedroom and work towards having it in another room.

That's what's wrong! She goes in the crate when you leave her, so she associates the crate with being left alone. Plus, seperation anxiety is common for a pup of that age. Start building up positive associations with the crate. Feed her her dinner in there. Give her a special treat that she only gets when in the crate. Put her in there while you are still with her and don't let her out until she settles. When she settles, praise. You will get there, she's only a baby still.

Hi, Apologies for the long-winded post. This is my first puppy and I need advice! Our puppy (x-breed) is nearly 15 weeks old and we have had her since she was 10 weeks, and we love her!! She is an inside dog when we are home and she goes outside when we are not (though she still has access to the laundry from outside). Since we got her she has been sleeping in a very large cardboard box (90cm x 50cm wide, and 80cm tall), which is open at the top. It's big enough so she can stretch out as much as she wants, but she can't get out of it as the sides are too high. The box is currently in our bedroom. The first few nights she whined a bit when placed in the box, but now she understands that the box = bed time and she goes to sleep in there quite happily. At the moment, she sleeps from around 9:30pm (when I take her for her last wee) to 6:00am, when she clambers to be let out. We get up, take her outside for a wee, and she trots back off to her other bed in the laundry and re-settles of her own accord, leaving us to go back to our bed. I'm over the moon that she is already sleeping through the night from such a young age, with no accidents in the box, so far! We are now starting to consider what we would like her permanent sleeping arrangements to be, so that we can have a plan to ease her into them. Ideally we don't want her sleeping in our bedroom forever; we'd like her to be either inside in another room of the house, or in the laundry, which opens onto the backyard. Our choices are as follows: 1. She sleeps inside in her bed, no longer in a box because she is (eventually) toilet trained. How would we go about getting to this arrangement? 2. She sleeps inside in a crate, which I would need to purchase (I'm ok with that if necessary). If she is in a crate, but not in our bedroom, will we hear when she needs to go out? Will she sleep longer as an adult, or will we be getting up at 6:00am forever to let her out? Interested to hear from people that use crates how it works with an adult dog. 3. She sleeps in her bed in the laundry, which already has doggy-door access to the backyard. I'm thinking that if she's no longer going to be in our bedroom, she may as well be in the laundry where there is already a doggy door to the backyard. My main concern with this is that it is cold out there at the moment, though I could get her one of those heat pads or a jacket, or something. Also, I don't want her to feel like we're throwing her out of the house! What would you do, and how would you go about making the transition? Thanks for your advice!

By giving in you are teaching her that if she cries for long enough she will get her own way in the end. This will only encourage her to cry for even longer next time. Unless you want her sleeping on your bed as an adult, don't let her do it now.

My puppy is nearly 13 weeks and she is waking me up when she needs to go to the toilet, usually at about 5-6am (she goes to bed around 9:30-10pm). Pretty good really. She sleeps in a box next to my bed at the moment so she can't get up without me, same as a crate.

Ok, sounds like it's a pretty good option. I think I will go and watch one week since it's a couple of weeks before I can take my pup anyway. Thanks for your opinions.

Hi, I am thinking of taking my puppy to this Puppy School at 16 weeks after her final vaccination. Has anyone been, and what is it like? Are the trainers well qualified? She's only a little pup and I'd like to make sure it's a controlled environment, not puppy madness! Cheers

Thanks, I think so too.

Name: Leia Name Meaning: She's a princess AND a jedi. :rolleyes: Sex: Female Date of birth: 25 January 2008 Age: 11 weeks old Colour: Black with a little brown patch on both ears Breed: X-breed. Mostly Mini-Poodle with a little Beagle and Cocker Spaniel thrown in. Hobbies: Playing fetch, chewing her soft toys. Loves: Company, Sleeping Hates: Being left alone, having to go outside to pee when it's raining/dark/cold.