Bindii

I reckon regardless of anything someone is more likely to smash a window than crawl through a doggy door. If they want to get in, they will. Plus GSDs are 'scary'... she'll protect the house

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww you calling my dogs ugly No! she was calling my dog ugly!! Poor Hugo!!

Are you positive he barks when *no one* is there? Hugo is terrible when he can hear or see us... but i've pretended to go and snuck back (ie, not in a car cos he can hear that) and he makes no noise whatsoever - peaking through the window i find a very happy dog, sleeping or playing with a toy. I know it's very common for dogs to bark non stop when owners are out, and the problem needs to be dealt with.... but this was just a thought. I guess try leaving him for longer and longer amounts of time and he'll realise you always eventually come back. It's just going to have to be the way, as it is for so many of us that work and leave our dogs at home. And as a side note: I don't care what anyone says, i know Hugo and Fletcher are dogs... But they are still my babies and i treat them like it And like babies, they need to know right from wrong and be correctly disciplined.

Hugo sleeps on the bed... It started in the exact same way (crate then early morning pee trip then snuggle in the bed) that only lasted a few weeks for us and since then he's in the bed. Mainly because it took about 15 mins to get him to stop barking and go to sleep which i couldn't be bothered doing at 5am. I love having him in the bed, keeps me nice and toasty (OH gets overheated, but Hugo and i snuggle up all night!). In fact, for the first time ever last night Hugo got off the bed and slept on the floor!! I felt rejected Fletcher, on the other hand, is going to be crated over night until he's learnt to ask at the door to go to the toilet, or hold on until we let him... because at the moment he's holding in his crate but still pees anywhere he pleases while roaming around the house. He's a fabulous crater though... sleeps as soon as we put him in there at any time of the day/night and quietly asks to get out for a wee. We had a few accidents on the bed with Hugo when he was a pup still and i don't want to go through all that again!

re knowing where Mosley is! It's good some pups are just like this. And i definitely think i should stop complaining, because i think it's actually a really good thing. Hugo is the worst about cages and being in locked in a seperate room or outside from us... It's the only thing we got wrong with him. Well i thought it was us, but maybe it's just their individual little personalities and thankfully, one is independent!

My 9 week old Samoyed holds through the night in his crate, and has since the second night. But he's weird. Hugo took much longer to train and he wasn't crated. Now he sleeps through, wakes up at about 6-7ish and scratches at the door lightly (which wakes me.. and Fletcher) to go out for a wee. At our old house we didn't have a fenced backyard so training was all done on newspapers.. we've been in our new house for nearly 2 months and he picke up the door scratching/little bark within a few days... he's 12 months. The plan is to eventually have Fletcher out of his crate/crate door open, but i wont do that until i really trust that he is holding because he can and will, and not just because if he wees at the moment in his crate he'll have to sleep in it. And i too agree it will be hard to know when that time comes... I know this doesn't really help, just my experiences and plans!

Ahh what gorgeous photos of mistral! Loooove the sleeping in bed one! I just can't see that happening with the fletch just yet!! Can't wait to get to know him better though... It will come with time. This doesn't *really* compare... But when i got my second ferret i had similar feelings of "lack of bonding" to the same degree as with the first ferret, and i'm just having flash backs to that time. Even with a ferret, the bonding eventually happened and didn't take that long at all! Also, just a side note, can't wait to see Fletcher's big boofy grown up boy look to. While puppy stage is so cute and fluffy and bouncy, Mistral is just stunning and i'm so excited that that's what Fletcher will grow into! Thanks for the info about their coats. Fascinating stuff.. Does this also have to do with the theories of hypoallergy and the lack of 'doggie' smell?

Where's wolfsong gone? we need answers! haha. Samoyed's definitely have the whole double coat thing going on, and you'd think all spitzen (is that right?) would have the same method of climatising given their background. It's hard to tell with Fletcher really, because is he playing with the water/dirt because it's fun, or because its cool? and does he really seem overheated, or is he just a tired puppy? He pretty much always sleeps on the tiles, flat on his belly with his legs out the back (looks like a fluffy slug, must take a photo) I've only ever seen Hugo sleep like this on 40+ degree days. ....i've got to stop comparing them.

Yep. I think you're right Huski. Well that's good, I thought it was just that but thought that maybe someone might have thought it could be him feeling uncomfortable or something. But personality differences is just fine with me. I heard the insulation theory too, but i've found in our short time together he get's over heated pretty easily and *loves* splashing water everywhere and lying/rolling in it... oh and the same with the dirt in the shade. I am excited to have a water lover though. Hugo's petrified of the stuff! ETA: pretty sure my boys are as opposite as they come now, in both looks and personality it seems! both ends of the spectrum. ahhh Equality.

Okay that sounds good! I guess it's just because i've gotten used to my mummy's-boy Hugo and it worried me a little! I really like that Hugo shows his affection so strongly, and i think if its just Fletcher's breed and his personality then that's fine! I just wanted some confirmation that that's what it is. It would be a lot trickier if they were fighting over my lap for sleepy time. I can share my love during play time, but my lap is only so big! ETA reply to wolfsong: thanks for that!! So Samoyed's are a little cleverer..erer... because you have to win them over! haha. That's fine with me. Good to hear it's normal. .... and with all this stress Fletcher is now by my side nudging my leg for pats. He does love me. Only a little so far though. hehe.

We got our lovely Samoyed puppy last Friday (20/3). He is absoloutely beautiful, now 9 weeks old. Very well mannered with greeting us and visitors (no jumping), doing exceptionally well with toilet training, getting along brilliantly with our 12 month old pug, playing lots of fetch, tug of war, pouncing, eating, drinking, and seeming generally happy with everything in life. It's just his napping that i'm not sure about. The napping itself is fine, he's a puppy. But he just wanders off to his own little spot, generally a tiled area - the kitchen, front entrance, bathroom, presumably because it's nice and cool. He never wants to snuggle with us on the couch, and even when we go to sit near him at his chosen spot for that particular nap, he moves off. Is it his breed? His confidence? Does he just want to rest and not be disturbed? Have we not bonded with him fully because of Hugo? Does he hate us!! I'm completely comparing him to Hugo. And as pug owners would know, they are absoloute lap dogs. Hugo wanted to be no where else but in my arms, snuggled as close as possible, he followed me (and still does) into every room, hated to be away from me. But Fletcher's okay with this. Which i think is a good thing, but is also kind of worrying me! I'd just love to know your experiences with different breeds/bonding/independence etc.

I said for example I've only been working at a vet for less than six months and it has so far been the equal most common natural cause for sudden death (or near) i just don't know why any family with a bitch purely for pet purposes would risk that. (the other is bloat, which i don't believe is related to desexing, but the author of that linked article in the original post might find a link because everything else is due to desexing) My comment was not aimed at anyone in particular, just a whole range of posts i've seen on here (not just this thread) and i actually said "If you are not a breeder and have no science/medical/veterinary degree or knowledge, don't say it like it's fact." I totally respect people with real, good experience such as long term breeding... Of course it's not inevitable that a bitch will get pyo. i just know that if i had a bitch i'd get her done because i'd feel so unbelievably guilty if she got it. From what i have personally seen in my 6 months, the risk of having a reaction to anaesthetic is much lower than the chance of getting pyo, and that itself is enough to convince me, and to understand why most vets advocate desexing. (in fact i haven't seen a reaction to aneasthetic yet and have asked around the clinic and most haven't seen it - especially in a young dog when desexing is recommended)

It's true that many DOLers are more educated than the average dog owner, but the problem is that occasionally the 'average dog owner' may come across a few threads such as this and think 'omg i'm not desexing my bitch' and then the pet gets pyo and has an absoloute terrible recovery and huge chance of not surviving.... just an example. I think people reading threads such as these need to remember that the people writing responses may not have any true knowledge on matters related and are only retelling things they have read on the internet.. and i don't think any one can deny that there is a lot of crap online. How can one decide what is 'crap' and what is 'fact'? If you are not a breeder and have no science/medical/veterinary degree or knowledge, don't say it like it's fact. ....i know this post wont make a huge difference to the amount of 'stuff' some people are saying like it's absoloute fact... just something i've noticed a bit here on the foums.