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Starting lead training is a great idea. I wish I'd started with loose leash training much earlier. I'd also teach "stay" — I taught Martha this when we was very young and have found it invaluable. Someone on DOL (sorry, I've forgotten who) put me on to this book, and I am basically working my way through the levels. Level one is excellent for basic training.

I tried this too, but Martha just thinks it's a game. I've done it as hard as I can and she seems to quite enjoy it! This is a great idea. Will try it out.

Huski, when I first saw your footer I thought that all your pets name seem to suit them very well. Particularly little Cherry. (What breed is she — I've never been able to work it out?) I'm a real Anglophile, so I love these English names for dogs too. You could add: Dudley Roger Bertrand Tristran Maurice Humphrey Gideon Oliver Wifred Albert Quentin Clyde Gerald Jasper Walter Or English surnames: Barrington Flyte Ryder Wilson Fitzgerald You could even go the old Anglo-Saxon names: Ethelred Aldwulf Wuffa Or from Shakespeare: Lear Romeo Hamlet Macbeth Rosencrantz Guildestern Troilus Or literature generally: Humbert Marlow Heathcliff Dorian Darcy Earnest Algernon I guess you'd have to pick your own favourite books or else it's fairly meaningless.

Up until very recently I'd never punished Martha at all. But if I catch her in the act of doing something I don't want her to do (like weeing inside, before she was house trained), I clap really loudly. This startles her so she stops what she's doing, then I can redirect and praise. Like others, I keep her in a puppy-proofed room (the bathroom) when I go out, or even if I need to do something without her around for a while. I put her kong and all her other toys in there. (A great distracting tip — empty toilet rolls filled with just a few bits of kibble. She has great fun ripping them apart.) However, just recently, I've felt the need to step up the anti-nipping campaign. While she's not as bad as she used to be, she still nips. She never responded to the yelping technique (it just revved her up) so our technique is to turn our backs and/or walk out of the room. This does work, but not well enough. She also goes crazy when we're on the phone — all bite inhibition seems to go out the window and she just manically, and with her teeth, tries to get our attention. (I can put her in her room before I make a call, but not if someone rings.) So I bit the bullet and filled a spray bottle with water. I have it on mist, and it certainly doesn't hurt her, but she doesn't like it. I have used it a total of thrice — now I just have to pick it up and she stops biting! I hate doing it though, because she does shy away from it. So if others have thoughts I'd be grateful to hear them.

I have nothing to add except I love seeing all these puppy to adult pics. More please! I also have a question — why does teething affect a puppy's ears? How does it work? Martha is teething, but she's just got floppy doppy Labrador ears and... oh... *gets distracted and runs off to shower kisses on Labrador puppy's gorgeous floppy doppy ears*

Hi Kristin, my fellow lab lover, I did quite a lot of food research when I got Martha. Dog Food Analysis was by far the best website. This page, in particular, teaches you how to read dog food ingredients list, which I have found invaluable. I feel I can make an informed decision myself now, rather than rely on marketting or buying the most expensive food. Dog Food Analysis rates food from one to six stars, six being the best. You don't say which Eukanaba you're feeding, but if it's large puppy food it only gets a one-star rating. I must say I looked at the ingredients list once and thought it seemed really overpriced for what you get. I feed Martha Orijen Large Puppy food, which gets a six star rating on Dog Food Analysis and seems to cost more than our food does! There's a thread on Orijen dog food in the Health and Nutrition there, umm... here. Because it's full of meat, it has a very high protein content, and some people don't like feeding a puppy (particularly large breeds with potential joint problems like Labs) high protein food because it may accelerate the growth of their joints and cause problems in the future. The studies, however, show this to be a result of feeding a pup too many calories and/or too much calcium, rather than too much protein. It's probably worth doing your own research if you want to switch to Orijen so that you can at least satisfy yourself you're doing the right thing! I also feed Martha chicken necks, wings and frames a couple of times a week and she has a weekly tin of sardines. There's a lot of knowledgeable raw food DOLers round here who might be able to give you advice about raw food diets. In short, my advice is to switch, but do a bit of research before deciding what to switch to. By the way, I wonder why he isn't hungry? What was he on before? Perhaps he just didn't like it. Are you no longer feeding him at night?

We're having the same problem. Martha's poos are very runny, and man, can she whiff up a room! Opps, disregard this, I was blaming Orijen without foundation. Martha had the "splatters" (as Rockysmum calls it) for other reasons and is AOK now. Back to the small, firm, black stools that so delight me. Rockysmum, you could also try adding mashed pumpkin. I gave this to Martha when she had the runs and it solidified her poos immediately. I just mashed half a butternut pumpkin and spread that out over three meals, stuck the shredded boiled chicken on top. (I didn't bother with rice.) She loved it. Have you talked to your vet about it? I'm interested as well. Anyone?

Golly. I'm really sorry to hear this story and hope Rosie is comfortable. You must be devastated — understandably — I certainly would be in your position. I think it is probably worth finding out if the day care place has any sort of responsibility — why don't you contact the SA office of consumer affairs who'll at least be able to give you a bit of free advice. Others on this are probably right in saying you're unlikely to get anything out of them, but I think it would do you good to talk it through with an expert so you can understand what their liability is. I once had cause to ring consumer affairs. In the end, I decided prosecution wasn't worth the hassle, but the outrage of a qualified third party helped me to deal emotionally with the discrimination I'd experienced. In other words, I really needed someone else to say, yes, you were wronged. Obviously, your situation is different, and perhaps this was an awful but unavoidable accident. Charles Kuntz's post certainly would indicate so. But it is perfectly normal for you to be upset and looking around for something or someone to attach that anger to. I'm rambling, but I think my basic point is that your feelings are perfectly normal. However, it seems from what others are saying you're unlikely to get compensation. So perhaps it's time to make like a Buddhist and let your anger go. It's a terrible thing that happened and I hope Rosie gets the best treatment and you end up experiencing the best outcome. Good luck to you both and a special shmooch for Rosie!

Yeah, that's my impression too. We're having the same problem. Martha's poos are very runny, and man, can she whiff up a room!

Aw, I want a cuddle of all these puppies!

Hmm. I hope you weren't looking for reassurance, because I would also worry about that. Perhaps you could look for another school? Are there others in your area? Martha's puppy school (at the vet's) was inside on a tiled floor with a mop and bucket handy! The pups only socialised with each other. The puppy trainer was adamant that she wouldn't train outside, for a myriad of reasons. It's distracting, the pups haven't learned recall yet, older dogs may have pooed on the ground and so on. I reckon you should see if you have any other options. You can always go back to obedience after puppy school.

If I'm reading you both right, this is basically the same suggestion. Yes I have, but I guess I was unsure if that constituted walking on a loose leash, cause she'll catch up to me then run past me. But if I can interrupt her with a click/treat as she's careering past I might pull her up a bit. Well exactly. She's doing very well out of it, by the way — she had her whole lunch on our walk today! However, I think what TerraNik suggests here: ... is going to solve this problem. I think (am I right?) I need to encourage her to consider walking forward the treat, and not expect food. Then I can click and food treat when she's walking nicely consistently for some metres. Does that sound right? Really, I reckon she will pick it up. It's just so frustrating waiting for her to understand what I she has to do to walk forward, as neither of us get a good walk at the moment. The poor girl was so frustrated today in her efforts to run forward that she started whining.

I have started leash training with Martha, but she pulls terribly. I began training inside. We walk around the house, me clicking and treating madly. She keeps the leash loose because she wants the treats. We do an exercise where I put a treat on the kitchen floor, then lead her away from it up the hallway, then we walk back toward the treat. When she runs forward and strains on the leash, I stop. She generally returns to me to work out what's going on, and as soon as the leash is loose I go forward. Then we took it outside. Our walks go like this: Martha runs to the very end of the leash and pulls. I stop immediately and say "bad luck". (My word for "you're doing it wrong and there's no treat".) She strains on end of leash for some time. At some point, she'll turn around to look at what I'm doing and the leash loosens. I click, treat and take one step forward. Martha runs to the very end of the leash and pulls. I stop immediately and say "bad luck". She strains on end of leash for some time. At some point, she'll turn around to look at what I'm doing and the leash loosens. I click, treat and take one step forward. Martha runs to the very end of the leash and pulls. And so one. For the whole walk. We've only done it for three sessions or so, but there's no improvement. Am I doing something wrong? Am I just impatient? Should I change the approach? Or is perseverance the key? She's a clever dog, but I can see she hasn't twigged to the theory yet. Are there any other exercises that might help? Any and all advice will be appreciated. Just to be clear, I am training her to walk with a loose leash — we're not heeling yet. I'm not worrying which side she's on. I'm clicking for a loose leash only.

God I love this thread. Buck, Martha says to say you are very handsome, especially insofar as you look exactly the same as her! Please come and join us in the Labrador thread in the "breeds sub-forums" under the "General Discussion" section! We will form the Choc Blok.

Vrox, As others have said, there's no point in beating yourself up over this now. You can't predict whether Scout will become incontinent, so there's nothing you can do now but wait. I just did a quick google to inform myself, and it seems that while early speying can cause incontinence, we're still only talking about a very small percentage of bitches. (I didn't see a "one in five" figure" — I saw 12% on one site.) The statistical probability is that she'll be fine. And remember, the early speying has signficantly reduced her chance of getting mammary cancer, as she didn't have a chance to have a season. I don't want to hijack the thread, but I'm really interested to hear if there's any validity in the test your vet performed. What were the results? What was your vet proposing to do if the results showed HD? I was hoping to get Martha x-rayed when she is speyed, which I assumed would occur when she's between five and six months. But is it worth it? Her parents were not hip or elbow-scored, and she sleeps with her back legs extended out sometimes, so I worry. She's fourteen weeks old.

Just an update for y'all. Guess who's got a brand new D1000? Martha says "thank you!" to all who advised her, but while she loves her new bed, she still prefers lying in mother's lap. By the way, I can see how people get addicted to Snooza products. I want a snuggler now.

May I ask what titre testing is? I did look it up, but could only find definitions that classified it as a method of testing, rather than work out what you are testing for.

Okay, I'll check that title. Reminds me I've got books to take back to the library! Aussie3, while you (and I) are working out how to BARF-feed a dog, perhaps you should just get a better quality kibble. I am one of the many Orijen fans on this board. I currently feed Martha Orijen Large Puppy (she's 13 weeks) dry food for breakfast and lunch. Three or four nights a week she gets it for dinner too. Two or three nights a week she gets chicken frames, wings or necks. Once a week she gets a tin of sardines. She certainly does well on it — her coat is so shiny it hurts my eyes! Once I get my head around my BARF options I'll probably start giving raw food for dinner every night, but I want to keep serving Orijen for breakfast because it's such a great food and I'm confident it's providing her with stuff I'd never be able to source by myself. So maybe a good quality kibble will set your mind at rest while you work out a longer-term menu.

Just butting in here — I'm no groomer, and I have a Lab puppy so I've never even been to a groomer. But as a consumer of similar services, I would say that a text message the day before would actually be quite helpful. There are some sites on the internet where you can send free sms from computers to phones, I think. Blue Sky Frog is one, although apparently "Free sms from BlueSkyFrog" or some such slogan will appear at the end of the message, and you have to put up with getting a monthly newsletter for them. I'm with Vodafone, and I can send web to phone messages for 25cents each, deducted from my account. Which would be easier than punching them out with your thumb, and only set you back a dollar or two a day. Also, from my perspective, I wouldn't expect to be billed for dog grooming. It's like the hairdresser — you pay in full at the end of the session. If I turned up without the money, I'd be very embarrassed, and happy to toddle apologetically off to the ATM. Do you have appointment cards? They might help. I think it's perfectly acceptable to remind people when they book a slot that they should call you if you can't make it. A fairly chummy, "I know you're not like this, I've had some problems with other people who book and don't show..." might encourage your clients to stay on your good side and let you know if they're going to cancel. If you do have appointment cards, next time you get them reprinted include: "Please ring us on xxx if you need to cancel your appointment." What I don't think you can do is charge a cancellation fee. To me, it simply seems way to hard to implement, and not great business sense. You'd be chasing up those fees, your clients would avoid you, etc, etc. People are awfully rude. Including me. I stood up the dentist the other day — they have a waiting list of two months, so by the time it came around... Good luck.

But where's the starting point with BARF? There's so much info, some conflicting. I am a bit thick, so I need clear instructions! I've looked at a few websites, but they all seem to be selling their own raw food.

Cheers all. Great info. I think I will go with Sentinal Spectrum from Priceless Pets. I didn't realise it was an all-in-one: exactly what I wanted. Thanks again all who replied.

Okay, I know this has already got lots of responses, but I just wanted to add that there is a huge difference in the ingredients list between Orijen and Eukanuba. I was taught to look at the ingredients up until the first fat. These make up the bulk of the food, and gives you a more accurate idea of what's in it than just looking at the first four ingredients. Orijen: Deboned chicken, chicken meal, turkey meal, russet potato, lake whitefish, chicken fat... Meat makes up the first three products. In total, meat makes up 70% of the food. Most of the meat is mealed which means the water is removed. There are no grains. This gets the highest rating (six stars) on the Dog Food Analysis website, which calls it "outstanding". Eukanuba: Lamb, Brewers Rice, Corn Meal, Fish Meal (source of fish oil), Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Dried Egg Product, Ground Whole Grain Barley, Chicken Fat... On Dog Food Analysis, they point out that the lamb is not mealed and therefore would have a high water content. If you removed the water lamb would come further down the list. Brewer's rice is a cheap and hard-to-digest grain. Corn meal's even worse. Fish meal is terrific, but it doesn't really make up for the dependence on grain to "beef up" (sorry) the food. On dogfoodanalysis.com, Eukanuba products get one to two stars only and are not recommended. They're expensive for what they are. In other words, study the ingredients list and the difference between the two prices becomes blindingly obvious. There are, of course, lots of ways to feed you dog well without feeding Orijen. But I would suggest that Eukanuba is actually over-priced for what you get. But on the other hand, my childhood dogs grew up on tinned pal and all lived until ripe old ages. So who knows.

Hi there clever DOLers. I have searched for and found threads about worming, but I'm still not sure of the best regime to implement. Can anyone help me with these questions? 1. Everyone recommends the expensive brands, but I've seen cheaper wormers in the supermarket that kill the same parasites. Are the more expensive brands more effective, or are they just charging more for their reputable name? 2. Should I use and all-wormer plus a heartwormer and a flea product, or a product like Advocate plus another wormer to target tapeworm? It kind of annoys me that there isn't an all-in-one. 3. How do you do it? Thanks in advance.

I just had a look at the ingredients on the website. The has What "liver chunky vegetables" means is anyone's guess. Presumably they forgot the comma: "liver, chunky vegetables". Which then begs the question: what are "chunky" vegetables and how do they differ from regular vegetables? Other than these obfuscations, the ingredients list looks alright. At least the rolls are made of named meat and not corn. Which makes them far superior to Pedigree. However, having heard the reactions some of your dogs have had, I probably wouldn't risk it. Martha gets Orijen Large Puppy kibble, regularly supplemented with fresh chicken wings/necks/frames, other raw meaty bones, and tinned sardines. She loves her tucker, she's full of beans, and her coat is almost reflective, so I'm happy with the diet.

But how does your shirt survive? I just get a mangled rag if I tried that trick.