BIG-DOG-LOVER

As we are looking at getting a pup before the year is out (hopefully) I'd like to ask opinions regarding the involvement of children with training a pup. Our kids are 7 and 9 (turning 8 and 10 this year) and both are exceptionally good with the dog that we currently own but have not grown up with her from a pup. The dog we have was my husbands before I met him and subsequently moved in etc. She listens to my commands and to the children's on most occasions, however she definitely listens to my husbands commands more so than mine. I'm wondering how the 'pack' works when you have two adults, and two children in the family? Do you assign one adult as the 'pack' leader and only one adult trains the dog initially? Do you allow children to be involved in the dog training? If you don't then will the dog actually listen to what they say or just ignore them? Sorry for all the questions, just curious as to how best to train when we get a pup

Didn't know about brocolli either, although there is no way known our dog would touch it anyway unless it was heavily disguised, lol.

Wow Luke, thank you so much for ALL those recommendations!!!! I'll start at the top and work my way down, lol. Thanks

I had never heard anything about dogs not being able to eat macadamia nuts, and figured that perhaps I wasn't the only one so thought I'd make a thread about it. A couple of weeks ago we'd left a bowl of nuts on the coffee table in the lounge room, and our dog decided that she wanted to eat some of them. My son came out and told me that she'd eaten some and I thought it was cute, so told him that he could hand feed her some Well she loved the things!!! And the cashew nuts. But then my husband got home and looked up the internet only to find that macadamia nuts are a BIG no no for dogs :D Oh dear, thankfully she hadn't had too many, but I was watching her like a hawk all night just incase something happened to her. I had honestly never heard that before and I believe that I am someone that is fairly knowledgeable about dogs and their health etc. Anyway just thought I'd put it up here incase anyone else was planning on giving their dogs macadamias, it's a bit embarrasing to admit and might make me sound dumb for all I know but I'd rather someone else learn from my mistake.

Hi, we don't have a pup yet, but as it's been a LONG time since I owned one I would like to start reading up on how to best train a dog, I'm a keen non-fiction reader so would love any recommendations and eventually one day it will all be put into practice! I wonder if any of my parenting books would help at all, I guess in a way the psychology of it all is rather similar, lol.

Thanks all It's horrible seeing her so immobilized, but it does mean that she has been getting spoilt alot more than usual lately (can't help it when she looks at us with the 'sad' eyes!) and she seems happier because of the extra cuddles etc. I'll have a look at those heat beds, she's certainly not a chewer so would be fine for her. Our daughter did donate one of her very warm polar fleece blankets to her last night to put on her bed, so she should have been a bit cosier last night and from here on in. Will take her to the vet next week and see what they suggest, the onset of it has come on fairly quickly so we hadn't worried too much until now.

Things seem to be getting bad for our poor old Shep girl, she is finding it harder and harder to get up from a sitting/lying position, especially after lying down in the one spot for an extended period (like when she is watching tele with us ). I'm wondering whether some glucosamine would help at all and how long would it be before it started helping her? She's having trouble getting up and down from the couch as well and this morning I nearly cried when she was trying to get up to sit next to me and had to physically help her up Any ideas much appreciated....