~Aimee~

Today I am going to take Ruby on her very first walk outside our house!. It's very exciting. I just wanted some tips on how to get her to walk nicely on the lead. We have had a few practice runs walking around our backyard but she just seems to jump up as she is walking. Any tips?

Names I like are; Jasper Ollie Marley Jack Charlie Benson Hudson

This is exactly what I'm after of. I don't want my little puppy to choke. I will have a read of that link you posted. Thanks! Yes, she does like to chew on everything. Including us! We actually gave her a pig's ear to try tonight but she just sniffed at it and then went and did something else. I will perserve though. Maybe she doesn't know she is supposed to chew on it! Lol I will try the raw chicken mince mixed with vegies and her puppy kibble. Which vegies are best? Can we give cooked rice also?

Thanks for your help. I think i'll start with chicken mince first and then introduce chicken necks when she's a bit older. Yeah, I really have no idea! Just that heaps of people have suggested to feed raw chicken and raw chicken bones so I assume it must be good for dogs.

We are wanting to add some raw meat into our puppy's diet and were wondering what's the best to give her for her age and size? Should we start with chicken wings, chicken necks or just plain chicken breast? As she is only little (a cavalier puppy) I'm worried she may choke.

LuvMyCav- Which cavalier books have you got? Are there any you would recommend?

Chocolate- Thanks for your help. Those photos were taken about a week or two ago. Looking at her nose now I can see the pigment has very, very slowly started to develop. In the first photo you can see her left nostril is pink inside. This has now filled in and turned black. There was also a tiny bit of pink at the top on the left hand side and that has almost filled in also. So it's just the patch on the right hand side. Hopefully the black dot at the top will spread and meet up with the rest of the nose. She spends alot of time outside so hopefully that will help speed it up.

I just came across the one. Has anyone read it? It has some great reviews and I like that it also comes with a DVD. http://www.amazon.com/My-Smart-Puppy-Effec.../ref=pd_sim_b_5

For some reason the link's not working so here is the direst URL. http://www.vetnpetdirect.com.au/product.ph...=483&page=1

Here's some photos of Ruby. She will be 11 weeks old on Friday.

Just wondering if anyone has read this book? Cookbook for Pets I want to avoid commerical pet food products and making your own seems to be a good alternative.

When do you think I should worry? At what age should all the pigment have come through?

Thanks cavandra, do you have any links to information I could read? We want to continue with the dry food but just add some extras every now and then. What meat and vegies would be best to add? Is there anything I shouldn't be giving her? Bellatrix, how much raw chicken breast are you giving Lucy at one time? I'm a bit scared to give Ruby chicken necks in case she chokes. How do you cut through the bone to chop them into smaller pieces? I didn't think you could cut through bone? What is everyone else feeding their small breed puppies?

We have left our puppy outside when we've been out from 8 1/2 weeks old. The first few times were very short only one hour max and then we slowly increased it. She's 10 weeks old and stays outside for about 6-7 hours a day when we are at work. I come home at lunch time to check on her. She's usually always asleep in her kennel when we get home. Our neighbour is retired so he is at home all day and has been checking on her every now and then and he said apart from the first couple of days when she did cry a bit, she has been fine. We have a kennel for her with lots of blankets and a hot water bottle to keep her warm and plenty of toys to keep her occupied. When we are home she spends most of her play time outside anyway. She loves it out there. We have the sliding door open when we are home so she can come in whenever she likes, but she stays out there for ages exploring and playing. We have been really lucky as the days I have been at work, the weather has been nice and sunny. If it was cold or raining I'd keep her inside and just section off the carpeted areas. Most of our house is tiled anyway. I work part time so she's only by herelf 3 days a week.

I was wondering what your recommendations are for good puppy training books? Looking forward to your responses

We have a 10 week old Cavalier puppy and plan on taking her to formal obedience training after she has her next vaccinations. As we need to wait 10 days after her vaccinations to take her out, Ruby will be at about 13-14 weeks before she can start. I am wanting to teach her some skills in the meantime. So far we have done sit and drop and she is getting really good. What other things can we teach her? I'm trying to teach shake hands atm but she doesn't really get it yet. What's the best way to teach this skill? Also we are using the word drop to get her to lie down. I'm thinking of maybe changing it to another word. Maybe just "lie down" as we also say drop when I want her to drop something from her mouth so I don't want her to get confused. What command to you say to get your dog to lie down?

Are there any breeders that can answer this question for me? I'm getting quite upset as someone on here has been PMing me insisting I use supplements and that if I don't it will be an error on my part and that I am increasing her risk of skin cancer. Now obviously I want the best for my puppy, I don't want her to get sick un-neccessarily. But I also don't want to harm her by giving her something I'm not 100% positive is safe. The vet hasn't backed it up, she said supplements weren't neccessary so I am very confused! :D

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Oh, that's a great idea to go and watch first to decide if it's what we are after ;)

Thanks for your replies. Yep the course is quite expensive at $125 for 10 weeks. I also thought it sounded like heaps to cover in such a short amount of time. Especially with only one, 1 hr class a week. I contacted my local dog club and they run a more informal class structure. These classes are held for an hour every Sunday at the local school oval. We don't need to book we just turn up on the day. At this club they; 1) Teach to walk by your side without pulling 2) Sit 3) Stand 4) Lay Down 5) Stay 6) Come when called 7) To be able to stay by your side without sniffing or pulling when another dog passes The lady I spoke to via email said it is repetitious training with similar things each session. They also have some equipment, ie: weaving poles, jumps , flyball, which we can do during class, as it breaks the lead work up and gives the dog a bit of fun training. The Fees are $25 for 6 month membership and $20 every ten weeks. We can start taking Ruby as soon as she has had her 12 week vaccinations. I'm not sure how many dogs they have at each session though or what their ages are. Which do you think sounds better? The lady who runs the second local dog club said she has had 40 years of dog training experience.

We have an almost 10 week old cavalier king charles spaniel. She was last wormed at 8 weeks and the breeder said we needed to worm her again at 10 weeks and then every 3 months thereafter. What is the best worming treatment to get for a puppy of this age. This is our first dog so I'm very new to all this.

In the puppy care pack we got from our breeder it says to contine with the Advance Puppy Plus. This is what she was being fed at the breeders. It also said to give her puppy milk which we did for the first 2 weeks. We have stopped the milk now as I don't really think she needs it. It doesn't say how long to continue this diet for though. I didn't know you could give dogs raw chicken. I thought it needed to be cooked first to avoid salmonela?

We have a almost 10 week old cavalier king charles spaniel and was wondering what the best diet was to feed her? At the moment we are giving her advance puppy plus. Is this all she needs? At what age will she need more that just simply dry food? When do you introduce meat, rice & vegies?

I would also love to hear from others who have used colourmax to help fill in the colour on their puppy's nose. We have an almost 10 week old puppy who has a pink patch on her nose and we are thinking of using this product to help fill in the colour.

We have one more week left of puppy preschool and after that finishes I would like to take Ruby to some more formal obedience classes where she will learn how to sit, come stay, drop etc. This is our first puppy so we want to make sure we do all the right things from the start and make her a well trained, friendly dog. I've just inquired at some dog training schools and the closest one to us starts next school term which is in about 7 weeks. Ruby will be 16 weeks by then. Do you think this is a good age to start proper training? At this training school they cover a new learning area each week and cover areas such as intro to traditional obedience, obstacle courses (tunnels, weaving poles, A frame), rally obedience (obedience with signs), scentwork and fetching as well as first aid, games and even a little doggy dancing! What do you think? The lessons go for 45 minutes and the course runs once a week over 10 weeks. Does this sound like a good course to enrol our puppy in? It's called a puppy progress class and is for puppies under 1 year old. Does anyone else attend obedience classes with your puppy and how is it all going? What things are you learning?