Dame Aussie

I didn't know about this . How common is it?

I'm having the exact same debate Lili is 4 months and the vet said we could do it now, he also said that there is no evidence it affects their growth. Apparently if they are desexed before their first season it reduces the chances of mammary cancer by 98%. Anyone correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure thats what the vet said, so I would like to get her done before her first season. Also they heal quicker when they're younger , I'm leaning towards getting her done at around 6 months but I'm worried she'll come into season just before so maybe I should do it now.....but then just because there is no hard evidence doesn't mean it couldn't affect her growth! Dilemma!!! ;)

Thank you for answering. My dog is 1 year and 6 month now. I'll look for Droncit. Hope it is also available in online shops cuz I haven't seen any in the retail. You should be able to get it from your vet, I had to go to the vet as it's not at the supermarket

We have a car harness for our puppy, she's 4 months. I just attach it to the seat belt in the back seat and she will just lie on the seat, comfy as can be. I wouldn't have her in the front seat as my car has airbags and if god forbid there was an accident I'd rather her be in the back. I'm sure a crate would be fine but I'd rather get my pup used to the harness while she's young.

We were going to buy some assorted pork chews the other day but noticed there was bone, we didn't get them just to be on the safe side....I'm not really sure if it would be a problem but we decided to not risk it and grabbed some pigs ears instead.

We have always given our dogs tuna, they love it!! My 4 month old girl gets sardines a few times a week and tuna maybe once a week, it's good for them

That's ok lol It's the best thing to keep them out of your hair

I know how you feel....our puppy pretty much vacuums the back yard, she walks along with her nose on the ground and eats anything in her way. I've caught her with stones, twigs, flowers,bird poo , clothes pegs and clumps of dirt. She rarely goes outside without someone to watch her, however, I'm sure she's swallowed things she shouldn't in the split second I'm not watching her, but as the other posters said this can be quite dangerous. I've found that giving her a toy, a bone, or something she can chew on when she's outside stops her from hoovering the ground. Just keep an eye on your pup and make sure he has something to distract him, toys etc, or that you're playing with him while hes out there. A really goods toy for our girl is an old coke bottle with some liver treats inside and the top off, she'll try and get at them for ages and it's cheaper than a kong!

Has anyone here used Natural Balance? We currently have our puppy on mostly raw but a bit of dry also and have been using Eaglepak but it's stretching the budget a tad at the moment, and I'm looking for some cheaper options.

It's a bit worrying that your vet said that We are giving our puppy advocate along with Droncit for tapeworm and haven't had a problem ;)

I think it's silly. I dont believe it hurts the dog but I'd never do it.

Oh my god, I thought id have a look at that website and I'm addicted......it's fantastic!

(i) Australian Shepherd (ii) Puppy (iv) She started doing it without any training (v) No my other dog isn't interested at all! I don't know how much it has to do with the breed but we have two chi x's who couldn't care less about chasing something. However I just got an Aussie pup who started doing it on her own at 11 weeks! She started picking things up and bringing them to us, so we would throw them and she would go get them and bring them back. If its a ball she will just drop it on the floor to be thrown again, however if its a toy she likes she doesn't always give it back

Thanks for the advice everyone. The good news is that over the last week or so she has settled down a bit. Now most of the time when she jumps as if to bite she licks instead She's by no means perfect and I'm going to make use of some of the suggestions here to try and stop the behaviour completely. One thing I've found is helping is instead of saying "NO" when she bites, I say "sit" and as she knows the command she will do it! Anyway I'll keep persisting and see how we go. Thanks again

I feel your pain, my aussie shepherd is much the same. We got her at 11 weeks and she was terrible with the biting from then until the last week or so (she's 15 weeks now). We were trying everything, yelping, No, giving her a toy, time out and felt like nothing was working, however just over the last week her biting has slowly turned into licking, she'll look as if she's about to launch but instead of biting as she used to do, she'll lick instead. I found growling or saying no didn't help much it just got her more worked up and one thing that worked for me was after she had learnt sit, I could say sit when she was biting and she would do so and stop. Now its not perfect, as in the post above if I'm on the floor at her level she will launch at me and try and bite my nose, if she does this she gets put in the laundry straight away for a few minutes and when she comes back in she is a lot calmer...anyway just letting you know that even though it feels like nothing is working, it will eventually, if you be consistent. Good luck!

Thanks everyone, that's all really helpful. It's easy to assume they know exactly what you're talking about sometimes

Thanks Tony, Yes she's motivated by food and toys, most definitely! I'll try what you suggested and see how we go!

Hi all, I'm just wondering if anyone can give me some ideas on how to train my puppy to have a good recall. I really want to be able to take her everywhere with me and want to feel secure that she will come when called. When we call her she will look at us and seems to recognise her name but she only comes when SHE wants to. We have played a recall game where OH and I go to different parts of the house, call her and give treats and then move to another area of the house and call again and she picks it up in no time, but when shes outside in the garden and we call her, she will either stare at us or run away and try to make it into a game She is only 15 weeks so I'm not expecting too much right now but I just don't know a good way of teaching her this! Any ideas??

Our girl is 15 weeks now and she still goes once during the night, however when we got her at 11 weeks it was 3-4 times so I'm pretty happy! ;) Just give it time, I would say by around 14 weeks it should only be once. I don't know if the breed affects this, our girl is an Aussie shepherd....

Ok, I'm gonna get OH to try and keep her still tonight and give it a go without bribery. Wish me luck

I know you guys are right, I just don't know what to do. Can anyone give any tips? The only problem we are having with Lili (14 weeks) is mouthing and this is extended to the brush when trying to groom her. We have tried the yelp, ignoring her and walking away, substituting with a chew toy and nothing is seeming to work. The problem is when I try to brush her she squiggles and wriggles and launches at the brush so much I cannot physically keep her still. Ive tried putting her in time out and she does come back in calmer but as soon as she sees the brush again its on! Any advice..pleeease?? :confused:

So sorry to hear that On a hopeful note we have a chi x who has had a heart murmur since he was a baby. He is now 12 years old and still running round like a puppy! The vets always notice it at check ups and have said it probably won't be a problem as it is quite minor so I guess it depends on how serious the condition is. All I can say is good luck and I hope it's nothing serious.

Thanks guys, I brushed her last night and just held a liver treat in my hand as I did it. She was occupied with trying to get it from my hand and didn't care less that I was brushing her!! Ultimately of course I want to be able to brush her without having to do this, but at this point she wasn't listening when I said No, she was just so focused on eating the brush I couldn't even start. At least with the treat I can keep her attention long enough to praise her for staying still and hopefully I can slowly remove the treat from the equation, either way great idea and I'll see how I go!

Hi! We started my pup at pre school when she was 11 weeks but weren't happy with how it was run so we have enrolled her into another one which is great! She started this week at 14 weeks so when she finishes she'll be 18 weeks so i think you should be able to find somewhere that would let her in. As for diet we're feeding our girl a mix of raw and dry food. She gets a variety of foods including raw bones, mince (chicken, beef), sardines, tuna and vegies and her dry is Eagle pack holistic and she LOVES it. I was a bit overwhelmed about what to feed etc as there are so many different opinions but she loves what she gets and is putting on weight at a healthy rate with good firm stools so hey, it must be working! Good luck with the pup!!

Hi all, OH and I initially wanted to get two puppies at once but were advised to only get one and get the other a bit later, so we had enough time to bond with and teach the first and she would act like a role model to the second. Our 14 week old aussie shepherd is gorgeous and everything's going really well, I just have a couple of questions to help me decide when we should get the second pup. 1) What age is good to bring a new puppy into the home? We would like to do it when our girl is around 6 months or so. 2) What is the best way to introduce the two? 3)The new pup will be a staffy, any particular experience with staffy pups and how the two breeds will get along? (OH has had a staffy before so we know theyre pretty hectic ) Any info or experiences would be great! Thanks