LuvMyCav

I second what Luke said. Spend the day making the crate an inviting place to be and at night have the crate beside your bed with the door closed. We did this and had barely a whimper during the first night - I put my hand to the cage and spoke soothingly when he whimpered - and he's been great ever since (he's six now and still sleeps in his crate beside our bed). I would suggest that you put pup outside for a wee last thing before bed (stay outside with pup and praise when toileting has been done) then off to bed with no water in the crate. When pup wakes up during the night, take him outside with no chatting or playing, praise when he toilets, then pick him up and put him straight back in the crate. (If it's a particularly hot night, you might want to offer a drink when you toilet him - we never used to but we used to pass by the water bowl on the way to the toilet but our boy was never interested). Also ensure that you have made the crate small enough when pup is young by sectioning off the back part (with plywood or something similar or a proper crate divider) so that pup doesn't sleep up one end and toilet down the other. Good luck seashell. Come and join us in the ckcs thread: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=96578 Just don't bother trying to read the whole thread before you say hello. Go straight to the last page (we talk a lot in there) - be warned though - they'll want photos.

I freeze chicken necks and give Charlie one each day pushed into one of these: http://www.phtpetsupply.com/site/701516/product/KO10003 That way he can't gulp it down and has to bite it bit by bit. If the neck's too big to fit in the Goodie Ball I push it into a normal Kong.

My boy used to love the fringing on our living room rug. I used to regularly rub Vicks (chest rub stuff)around all the edges. They don't like the taste at all.

what clever puppies you all have, so cute!

I'm so terribly sorry Danois. God bless you Angus, RIP you handsome boy.

Kyra, the crate needs to be big enough for her to stand up and turn around in when she's fully grown. The crates usually give ideas of which breed sizes they're designed for.

18 months is a great age for training. Your staffy will definitely benefit and will probably be more mature and able to handle the concentration aspect a little better than when she was younger. Charlie will be turning 6 in a few months and we still go regularly, it's great for socialisation and also as a bonding activity that the two of you do together. Best of luck with it.

Big hugs to you and Brodie, Kyra. :D I've heard of plenty of Cavaliers living full lives with heart murmers. Hope it all turns out alright. I was very sorry to hear about little Rusty too.

If you're not adverse to having pup sleep in your room in his own bed then why not do it? Obviously you don't move him during the night when he's in the laundry and crying because, as you said, that will teach him that crying gets him what he wants. Just change the set up before going to bed. Your pup has come from being with his mother and litter mates and now he's being asked to sleep alone, away from his pack. Naturally, that's a frightening and lonely thing but in time, he would get used to it, however, if you're happy to have him in your room then I think that's a great set up.

Yep, I would definitely be going right back to basics as Poodlefan said. And you do need to stay outside with her so that you can be sure that she toileted and so that you're there to praise her. Good luck.

One was one of those books you find in the pet shop that are available in all different breeds. It wasn't that good because it just threw in the word "Cavalier" every now and then and in the other books was probably substituted with the word "Border collie", "Poodle" etc. etc. Not really breed specific at all. The other was "A Complete Pet Owner's Manual" for ckcs' but in all honesty it wasn't that great but better than the other one. I would prefer a book written by long-time Cavalier breeders.

We have After You Get Your Puppy by Dr Ian Dunbar, Aimee, which I thought was good. Other than that I bought a couple of Cavalier books. A lot of stuff I wanted to know about eg crate training, I just googled.

We used to use Vicks Vapour Rub too with quite good success.

I find the extender lead good for swimming but with two dogs it's more tricky because the cable is thin and easy for the other dog to run into and get tangled. Hope your pup isn't too traumatised.

Hi Aimee, I have a crate for Charlie so when he was a puppy, I would put Charlie in his crate with a treat when i went out and would make sure I was back within 2-3 hours. Usually i only left him for short intervals but once or twice a week when I was shopping, it'd be a couple of hours. If I hadn't had the crate I would have used a tiled room eg kitchen, laundry or bathroom. Penny (on ckcs thread) leaves her cav, Izzy, outside during the day when she works. You could ask her what age she started that. Re: food, ditto to everything Gretel said.

Congratulations Aimee! Can't wait to see pics of your new pup. We've always had Charlie sleep in our bedroom in a crate. He never cried, just whimpered a tiny bit on the first night and I put my fingers through the bars to soothe him and that was it. Hope you're enjoying your first day together. :p

Hi raeviel, are you sure that you can hear your pup during the night if he wants to go out to the toilet? I wonder because you said you're upstairs and Brodie is down in the laundry. I have never woken my dog up to go out to the toilet but I'm wondering if maybe Brodie doesn't really need to toilet at that time but once he's been woken and put back to bed in the laundry, he starts to think about pooing since he's awake anyway and he's emptied his bladder. Have you tried just leaving him alone all night unless he calls out/scratches? Would you consider a crate beside your bed? Our routine has always been that Charlie stays in his crate until I open it after going in the bathroom. This is about 6.30am. On weekends or school holidays, I let him out of the crate about 7.00 - 8.00am. He doesn't usually want to toilet straightaway but enjoys coming up onto our bed for a snuggle until we get up.

Rob, obviously Samantha hasn't been needing to get up and toilet during the night. That's a good thing, lol. If she does need to go during the night at any time, she'll let you know so just ensure that her crate is positioned somewhere that you can hear her. Well done Samantha!!

Stay strong Pandagirl, she'll get there in the end and it'll all be worth it. :D

What an adorable little pup!!! Congratulations.

Pandagirl, I wouldn't be giving her a bone in the night. That's something good to make getting up in the night worthwhile. I would just take her out to wees, no talking to her, and then straight back into bed with no nonsense. It might mean you're going to have to listen to her crying or scratching on the crate until she learns that bed time means bed time and there's no point in her making a fuss because the most she'll get out of it is to go outside for a wee (don't let her stay out there and play). She won't be getting food or attention so she might as well go back to sleep. Best of luck with it, I hope the nights settle down soon.

I would mention that to the vet too Inbox, to rule out any dietary/medical reasons that your pup may have for eating it's own poo. You also need to clean up the poo when pup is inside and can't see what you're doing so he doesn't feel that you're taking something good away and reinforce his need to "get it first".

I would have asked you the same questions as Luke with the addition of: Does your pup have access to water just before bed or during the night?

Agree with the cooked chicken and rice. First sign of an upset stomach and we change to that for a few days. Hope your pup gets better soon.

What was her normal diet before adding the Science Diet GSDhandler? Was she getting any kibble before? Rockylover, I believe GSDh is referring to Hills Science Diet kibble.