kamuzz

Absolutely! But he really is thirsty when he yells for out. (Different bark to when he is complaining about being in the crate.) Wouldn't that be cruel? The last couple of nights I have tried giving him his dry food wet to see if that will help him not get so thirsty at night. (Know it is not good for their teeth, but thought maybe one problem at a time.)

If they ran a Tresillian type place for dogs I'd be on the phone to them now. In fact, I've been tempted to ring Steve at K9 and see if he has an in-house program for dogs that won't sleep. I have a sleep disorder - battled with it most of my life and was actually starting to get it under control. Then - silly girl - decided to get a GSD. Knowing we wouldn't cope with a baby we found a 7 month old boy that was for sale by his breeder. Coda loves to play - early in the morning with Tessa dog next door. "Yip yip yip" in his best puppy bark. So we decided to bring him inside at night, before the whole neighbourhood went insane. Ha! He now has me perfectly crate trained. And I wake up around 2:30 waiting for him to want out, and then cat nap in 15 - 20 min stretches until it is time to get up for work. After a month of this I'm almost a basket case. Yes I know new mums have it tough too, but I didn't expect to have such a hard time with a puppy. Anyone got any bright ideas? I'm worried that after a month of this he is in a routine and perfectly happy. After all, he can sleep all day.

You are SO lucky. Coda wakes up every night around 3:00 ish for a loo break. If I am lucky he will go back to sleep until around 4:30. Then he carries on until he is let out of his crate.

Because the dog can't make a logical link like we can. We want them to think: - I made this mess - Having my nose rubbed in it isn't fun and my human is angry with me - Best I don't make this mess again But they are DOGS so they don't get it. So rubbing their noses in their business won't stop them pooping inside. Taking them outside to go and making a fuss of them when they do go is something they can get. Works a lot quicker.

Chance may well be saying the same thing about you. Sending you waggy tail from the kamuzz clan.

Well Coda seems to have settled into a routine, and I must say it is one that I don't really like Wake up around 3:00 am and bark in your "must get out NOW bark" Go outside and have a big drink Have a wee Have another drink Have another wee Consent to come back inside after running round the garden Go back to sleep until around 4:30 Start to complain about being in your crate in your best puppy yip Alternate yipping with persistent digging and rattling of crate Repeat with about 10 minute of quiet time in between each spate of complaining Be released from crate around 6:00 Go outside and continue barking at whatever in your best puppy yip Collapse exhausted on doorstep just as humans are leaving for work Be sure they see you settling in for a nice nap He is now 10 months old - is too unreasonable to expect him to sleep through the night?

I had a similar one, his breed must be an offshoot of "Plushi", called "PJ dog"

My parents had a property and our garden as such wasn't fenced. The dogs could have gone wandering off if they wanted to. Hummmm - why is the dog going there? Does she miss her mum? Do the people feed her? Is there somewhere there all the time esp when there is nobody at your place? Agree your easiest solution may be to have a "house yard". What about a dog run, guys? With adequated shelter, water etc of course! We used to have a lab x GSD & that was the only way we could keep her home.

Could someone do a "10 things you must know about crate training" and have it posted as a sticky? Like the two that Kojak has done already? That would be a great help to those of us just learning about crate training.

We were advised to feed our dogs after we had eaten because our dog has pack issues. have changed this recently to feed as soon as I get home, but he is still wanting to cavort around at night....

And what do you do when they whine 'cos they are bored and want out to play? Coda started around 3:00 am this morning. First he whined to get out & really wanted a drink. Then half an hour later he whined and wanted out to toilet. Ok fair enough. Then he whimpered on and off until around 4:30 when he turned it on - max scratching, whining, howling etc. I ignored him, thinking if I went downstairs this would only encourage him. But he didn't shut up until I let him out his crate around 6:00. Really really tired today....

Coda has been working his way steadily round the spa cover in that photo - all the brown viynl he can reach has been removed and he is now munching on the inner shell. He has also chewed his way around the door to the wooden kennel. And I think I will give up trying to find bedding for the kennels. Put a new snooza maxi in his crate that lasted oh say two hours He has also recently added digging holes to his to-do list. Oh goodie!

We try to feed fosters on their own, because it would be hard on our own dogs if they had to shuffle the pack every time we had another foster. That way we hope to avoid any unpleasant surprises too, when the foster dog is still "unknown".

One tip we got from Steve was to watch how we generally behaved around our dogs. For example, if you are walking say to the door and the dog is lying in your way the dog should move. If you walk around the dog you can be signalling that you are lower in the pack. He stressed that we should be mindful of the "small" things at all times. The one-on-one time we had with him was really helpful because he got to explain things so we could understand. Maybe you could call him for some guidance prior to September?

We are trying to get into a routine: - dinner is at 8:00 pm (we often don't get home much before 7:00) - bed time is at 10:00 pm Would be great if he would stay in bed until 6:30

Our GSD is now about 10 months old, and we have had him for about 3 months. At first he slept outside in a kennel, but then he would start playing <yip yip yip> with the next door dog through the fence - at 3:00am Now he sleeps inside in a crate - has done for the last couple of weeks. He barks to go outside to the toilet between 3:00am and 4:30am. How do I get him out of this habit?

interesting - always left the seeds in (whether feeding dogs or horses) and so far had no side effects. anyone got any links on this?

And which store would that be??

Good to hear that he's doing well

That must have been interesting to see No photos - would love to see photos of the dogs and the yard...

Agree 100% with you. So far Coda's recall has been fine - but I've only had him a couple of months. If he's having a lovely time with doggy pals I'm sure he'd think twice before coming when called....

This is a picture of Coda himself, taken by Jack at the Rouse Hill DOL meeting. He is about 7 months old.

We have had Coda for about three weeks now. Attached are some photos of his current wave of destruction. I can't find a toy that he likes. Any suggestion on what you give dogs who like to shred things? Like tea towels and dish clothes? Not to mention the cover on our spa and the lounge cushions.

Do you mean Wandering Jew? Another common one is paspalum. We have a lot of trouble with that. This page has a few hints: Pet Allergies

Ooooooh - now that I didn't know. I bought the product when I had a bird with an injury. That certainly would have classed as "raw/inflamed" skin as he looked like he'd been hen-pecked. We took him back to the breeder who suggested stopsitch as the "best first aid" product for all avian injuries. Fortunately Robbie's paw seems to be all better now - maybe he just need some encouragement to stop chewing it. Thanks for the Malaseb hints - very handy.