raeviel

Don't stress mate. You'll get a lot of very opinionated users in these forums. Even seeking the most basic and innocent advice can turn into misplaced accusations. I don't think anyone is mean spirtied but some people here have strict methods of raising their dogs and don't take kindly to any suggestion that you may be doing things differently. It's so hard when you get contradictory advice from books, vets, trainers, dog owners, family, friends, forums, but I reckon you're doing the right thing just asking advice and your puppy will grow up very happy and loved. If it helps- we kept our puppy in the laundry and woke up once or twice a night to let her out for the toilet. My baby cried for about 30 minutes when we put her to bed, and sometimes for 15 minutes once she returned after the toilet. It was incredibly difficult but we never went to her and eventually the cries shortened and then, stopped. When she was around 15 weeks we put her outside to sleep and she never cried. Sometimes I think it was the small laundry that was distressing her. We intended to have an outdoor dog too, but now she sleeps on our bed at night. Oops! Good luck!

can someone please shed some light on the 'harm' that rawhide chews cause? thanks.

Our puppy school consisted of 6 puppies, both large and small breeds and one mile-a-minute instructor. The classes were pretty average really. The information was handled poorly and explained haphazardly to the point where no one listened, we just watched our dogs play together- which in the end was the one thing the class was good for. We did learn techniques for sitting, lying and staying which worked OK so I guess that was good, too. If there's one thing I've learned from these forums it's that many people have very different ideas on how to raise a dog. I think it would be hard to take a puppy class with a variety of different owners and breeds without disappointing some people.

Pretty sure this is relatively normal.

Update: Brodie had her wound stitched, then bandaged for several days as it's now healing nicely though she has a bucket on her head for a week. Thankfully her socialisation has no suffered at all. She is still super excited to see dogs of all shapes and sizes! In fact, I have noticed that her enthusiasm is completely overwhelming to the point where she cannot recognise when a dog she is leaping on is getting freaked out. Several dogs have growled at her since the accident and she just continues to play- unabated. Though she was not behaving like this when the initial incident occurred with the dalmation, it's a bit of a worry that she doesn't know when to back off!!! Here's a pic of her damaged ear. Thanks for all the well-wishes!

Were you in a dog park where the dog was allowed to be off leash, or were you walking in the street with your MS and the Dalmation just attacked? Dogs by nature can be dominant or agressive, it is the dog more than the owner, but the owner should be in control, or have the dog on a leash. I know there are leash laws that can give out fines, restrict dogs to private property etc etc, was the dalmation registered and did you get the tag numbers? We've introduced Aubrey to large and small dogs when on leash as well as dog parks, and she has been pretty good. Now she stays away from the larger dogs that she thinks might bowl her over, but she often plays with a Standard Schnauzer we see at the dog park regularly! However, if we see other agressive dogs with poorly behaved owners, we move Aubrey to another side of the park and practice call back, or we leave the park all together... not worth the risk, as unfortunately you found out. Hope your MS recovers, they are pretty hardy and confident little things :D I take Brodie for an off leash run in a nearby enclosed running track where there are no other dogs, then I put her on her lead and we go for a jog through this off leash park as its green, open and on the way home. I usually jog right through and she doesn't socialise with other dogs but I saw a friend of mine so stopped to chat. He has a small terrier which was playfighting with Brodie, I think the Dalmation galloped over and decided to join in, albeit way too aggressively. Oh man it kills me just talking about it!! The Dalmation owner was just mortified, I went to her house as she drove us swiftly to the vets. I have her card and all her details. She said her dog had displayed some weird behavioural changes since it started medication and swore that she'd be restricted to a leash from now on. I don't feel like pressing further action. My gut feeling is that it'll be dealt with. I estimate this lady is dishing out at least $700 thus far for Brodie's vet bills so she's probably learned a valuable lesson... I just don't know...

You guys are right. It's not just big dogs that attack, dogs of all sizes do.

Hi guys, My 4.5 month old mini schnauzer, Brodie was attacked by a Dalmation last night. Brodie was on a leash but the Dalmation was not. As a result she's lost half of her left ear, but our biggest concern is that she's timid and tense at the moment. Granted it was only 24 hours ago and she was probably still groggy from the vets anaesthetic . Still the attack was so vicious (an unwarranted!!!) and she's so young to go through so much. Does anyone have any 'rehabilitation' ideas on how to get her back on track to being her sociable, chirpy, confident self ASAP? We'll do anything! Edit: And I guess this is a warning to any puppy owners walking their small dogs in a dog park. After chatting to friends and workmates about what happened it would appear this is not a rare event at all. I had no idea it was so common for larger dogs to snap without warning...

We left our puppy inside while we were at work from approx age 8 weeks - 12 weeks. The laundry was far too small for her so we sectioned our kitchen/dining room and left her to roam in there. In retrospect I think this was too long to leave her inside. She got used to going to the toilet indoors without discipline or consequence and that mindset is hard to reverse. Instead of holding on, Brodie still happily pees/poos inside if we are not around to let her out and it's very hard to untrain her now! I'd say as long as your yard is safe, there is some shelter and somewhere warm your puppy can retreat to it should be fine to leave him outside. Just get him used to being out there while you're around as much as possible, perhaps?

Kick a warm, sleepy puppy outside at 4-5 in the morning in winter? :p Another vote for a crate beside your bed. I have a 13 week old here who, since 9 weeks old has slept right through (from 10.30pm-8am onwards). Absolutely not who is that cruel to leave a puppy out in winter, the question is referring to when her partner gets up at 7am to let the puppy out not the first time it gets up. I actually know a lot of people who find it acceptable to sleep a 14+ week old puppy outside (in winter no less), provided they have shelter and a warm kennel. My vet tells me under these circumstances it should be fine, my puppy school instructor echoes these sentiments and several others at my puppy class and various friends have placed their puppies outside in a kennel from the day they got them. Hence, I'm surprised to hear people reacting so negatively over the concept here. At what age do you all believe dogs can be placed in a kennel outside or are people of belief that they should sleep indoors for life? Please note, once again I'm merely asking a question- please refrain from any vitriolic responses.

We had an average experience at ours. Was really only good to give the pup some interaction with other puppies and spot any problems she has with socialising. We got tips on sitting, lying down, stay and other puppy advice but it really wasn't anything we couldn't have learned from a good book and some home training. Not sure if anyone elses experiences have been similar. I'm sure there are some good preschools out there.

Thanks so much for the fantastic feedback. We tried getting up a little later (5am) this morning and this seemed to work so we'll persue that route for now. I think we'll also try to make the laundry smaller. We wanted her to have as much room as possible initially but this may be making eliminating inside more tolerable for her, which we should discourage. I don't think we'll be putting her outside any time soon as my gut feeling and general research has suggested it's far too cold at the moment- especially in the middle of a Melbourne winter. Generally speaking, her toilet training is progressing fantastically. When she is inside with us she sits at the door when she needs to go to the toilet and its now been a long time since she 'eliminated' inside. Thanks again for your advice.

My post wasn't seeking advice on how to get her to sleep longer, or at a time to suit me, simply how to train her to stop toileting overnight. I'd be happy to wake several times throughout the night, crate her, leave her, whatever, in order to solve this problem. Also, please refrain from making sweeping judgements about my 'parenting'. I've made a point to seek advice from several sources (DOL and strongly opinionated posters therein included) and then make an educated decision about which is the best way to raise my dog. I'll take your advice into account as I have the advice of people who tell me it's perfectly fine to sleep a 15 week old pup outside. LuvMyCav- cheers for the advice. We can clearly hear her when she barks and yep- we've tried leaving her and waiting for her to let us know when she needs to toilet. She still seems to happily toilet in the laundry.

Update: Brodie is still sleeping in the laundry and we get up every night at 4.00am to let her out for a pee. Sometimes she holds on until morning to go the toilet (YAY!), however, every couple of nights she'll poo overnight after her 4am wakeup. She never alerts us that she wants to go out and she seems to have no problems toileting where she sleeps. We can't seem to fully enforce this rule that its not OK to poop inside. We've varied the time we wake her up at night but can't seem to time it correctly so as to get her to poo outside every night. We're thinking it's simply time to get her to sleep outside (or would that be avoiding the issue?). I'm just so worried that she'll freeze in the Melbourne winter weather!!! Thoughts?

Hi Botheration, I walk my new 14 week old schnauzer puppy around the Merri creek tracks and through the big leash free park off Nicholson st. If you think having another dog around as light socialisation might help with the training perhaps we could meet up. I think I'm going through exactly the same phase as you are in regards to training.

I'm pretty sure my pup has been eating her own poo occasionally. Does anyone know whether this is normal? I'd discourage it but I never catch her in the act!!!

Brunswick Central Vet Clinic's classes are about to commence, I think. http://www.brunswickcentralvet.com.au/ That vet is fantastic, but I can't personally comment on the quality of their classes. I'm currently doing mine at the Carlton vet as the timing there suited us more. So far so good. Really, it's just a great opportunity to ask someone with some experience any questions you might have about the dog, learn some basic training techniques and give Martha a chance to hang out with some new mates! She's georgeous, by the way!!!

That's fascinating. Is it possible that the early morning wake up is a breed-specific habit? My OH and I are big sleepers so that's a worry eh! Though I've found one of my favourite things to do is bring her up to our bed on Sunday mornings so she can sleep in with us. She rolls straight onto her back, legs spread and falls asleep. So cute!! Have just discovered the schnauzer subforum. Thanks!

THANKYOU!!! The theory about going to the toilet in their den sounds like a good one...and one I'd like to believe.... Fingers crossed.

If we were to let her out at in the early hours for the toilet, can we then return her to the laundry to sleep some more??

Brodie thanks you all for your advice.....

Thanks so much for your feedback. Maybe we're not doing so badly after all. Any other tips? I had assumed she wasn't crying to go to the toilet because she's not fully house trained and doesn't often exhibit that kind of behaviour from day to day (barking to get outside to pee etc.). You could be right though. Thankyou.

We're having trouble with our 12 week old mini schnauzer absolutely hating the laundry in which she sleeps (smallish room, but warm, with all her toys, downstairs from where we sleep). She cries for about 15 minutes after being put to bed, but we ignore her completely and she eventually goes to sleep. In the morning however, she's up at 7.00am on the dot and cries and barks NON STOP. There is literally no pause in this behaviour until eventually my other half and I must get up and go to work anyway so we let her out. She absolutely adores us and just can't seem leave our sides for the rest of the morning... This behaviour has been continuing (non stop) for the 4 weeks that we've had her. HELP! Can anyone suggest what moves we make next? Mornings are horrible in our house!