saram

Oh I'm so pleased someone pposted this - we are having BIG recall issues! YP - thank you, I think you explained "oh well" perfectly! I love it - something I hadn't thought of before. Another qu. When we are giving them "no other choice" what am I supposed to do - drag them?

sorry double post

Thanks for the ideas! Keep them coming

Oh I hadn't thought of cream cheese! Yes I am trying the kong stuffing instead of breakfast as they aren't really interested in ordinary B'fast and it keeps them occupies while I run around with the kids and school (when it goes back)

Thanks! Just discussed with OH and I'm going to alternate taking each pup to obedience club while he watches the human babies when they go back first week in Feb - really looking forward to it!

vjb - thanks, will have a look for a walking club! We did puppy preschool although it was a bit of a whirlwind and only went for 3 weeks. Do you mind me asking what breed is the gorgeous dog in your sig? I have noticed it around the forum and Heidi is just stunning

Thanks, they do send quite a lot of time apart, walking and training. Also Hoover enjoys the outdoors more and Dyson indoors so often hoover will come outside to play with us and then Dyson will sit with us inside, they always like to snuggle up together at night but are seperately crated for bed. There was a fair amount of carry on when we first started crating seperately but they are great now.

I really want to ensure our boys are socialised with other dogs properly and I was going to take them down to the off-leash park but after reading another thread, I'm not sure we are ready as they are not coming when called when distrated. Currently we have play dates with my friends Besenji (spelling - sorry) and we are taking them on daily walks. They often go for a car ride (one at a time) and they have been to the vets alot What else is a good, safe way to socialise pups (currently 4 mths)

Yes actually it has been disguistingly hot all day and they have been lounging in the aircon -still there now :-) Bummer I was all organised with my new treats and lead from the pet store :-( They just keep raising their head and look at me like "not now mum we're sleeping"

We have crate trained our previous dog and these two pups and I was pretty skeptical at first also but once youe SEE how the system works it is fabulous! Not just for toilet traing but also great for quiet time when you want the pup to settle down or need to restain it so it doesn't destroy your house It would also be a great way to allow the cat to meet the dog on it's own terms as the pup would be confined and the cat could approach it. We transitioned out Ridgeback to a kennel on the front verandah after crate training very easily. We simply moved the crate from our bedroom towards the door a couple of metres each night until finally it was outside and we left it open once we went to bed, - no probs. We then introduced the kennel with lots of tasty treats hidden in there and the rest is history. We plan on transitioning our little boys outside two eventually but now it is much easier to keep them crated as it stops us from worrying about what mischief they have gotten up to while we were sleeping (for eg our ridgy used to do things like knock over the garbage bin and steal dirty nappies :-) and dig up and eat all our plants, chew on the walls etc - not fun. Crate training is much easier and cost effective (when you take into account all the damage)

The pups have slept the entire day away today - despite my enthusiasm to get them out and moving - do dogs have growth spurts like babies do where they just sleep and grow for a couple of days (Do you know what I mean?)

Woohoo I guessed right :-) they are just beautiful! They must keep you busy :-)

absolutely agree with you about being viligent about this, we were prepared for this when we took them on, I am just happy that the current issues have resolved. Yes we were putting the bones in their crates so they were apart while chewing them, they were sharaing them through the bars so I opened the door to see how they would react and they chose to sit together. They are always supervised at food/treat times so that we can ensure they both get the right amount and at the moment we are mostly doing TOT one at a time anyway but I do appreciate the warning. Thanks

with two pups and a kitten we have been living at the vets lately - So far we have clocked up $1000 since bringing them home a month ago. Something that did annoy me a little was the kitten was a stray from the vets - I wished they had taken the time to point out her health problems before we took her and we also paid more for the spaying as she was in full heat but they were the ones to advise when she would be off heat - shouldn't they have known before opening her up that she was still in heat??? Anyway off topic. Having said that I know our vets work their tushies off and are ALWAYS helpful and caring!

Thinking of you and your little pup

So I have had lots of fun the last couple of days stuffing the boys Kong with treats and food to keep them occupied while I'm out and I am after new ideas! What are some favourite recipes for stuffing into treat balls etc maybe even some puppy particular ones??? Also have heard that cats food is not good for dogs due to higher levels of something? Vit A maybe? is this true? Have noticed a few people mentionng using at biscuits as treats/in treat balls and am looking at using the cat food my fussy cat won't eat to finish off the boys Kongs (about a teaspoon or so to close the gap) What do you think? Thanks

Their dad was Golden Retriever and mum was Golden retriever x husky apparently. Love Millie and Ruby in your sig - I would guess labs but I'm clueless on breeds, learning heaps on this forum :-)

Just wanted to pop in and add we have had maj successes in just the past few days! Hooray! With being very strick on the fighting in the house and working on them sharing and being civil around food and treats my two little boys are lying beside each other happily swapping bones with each other just like they used to! We have also been working them a bit harder in the training stakes as well and filling up some kongs and keeping them really busy. Thank you all for all your suggestions and help it has been MUCH appreciated!!!!!!

Yep those are our boys Hoover and Dyson and they are Golden Retriever x and just about to hit 4 mths heres the bigger one -just taken tonight - can you tell I am a little smitten

We have the same problem with our boys not eating and we have reduced what we were gving them and know it's all going. I have also been mixing in some raw meat to spice things up a little for out TOT training - working a treat.

Ah thanks - thought that was a little unfair for QLD and TAS. OH would love to try something out when the boys get older - methinks he is going to have to help out a LOT more with the training if this is his goal :-)

Just stumbled across this on the internet and wondered if it was true and if so why only in QLD and TAS??? "In all states except Queensland and Tasmania, ANKC Obedience Trials and associated titles are available to all dogs including unregistered pure bred and mixed breeds as well as sterilised (de-sexed) dogs. In Queensland and Tasmania, dogs can only be entered into ANKC Obedience competition if they are pure bred and have ANKC registration."

Thank you - much appreciated, exactly what I wanted to hear!

OK so after reading from a couple of different sources and getting other peoples opinion I have got myself very confused regarding dominence with multiple dogs. Do we want to encourage a dominent dog or is it possible to keep them all equal? Some places have encouraged keeping the set pack order - feeding dominent dog first etc while others say keep it equal and feed together or in random order. We were originally trying to stick to the pack order (taking one dog out to train first, eat first etc) but now I'm confused that we aren't doing the right thing. Also as of last night, the dog we thought was in charge has starting deferring to the other and being submissive? What is the general concensus

just midol - I think it's the fact that it has a few uses in one? Have to admit with two kids the handsfree walking sounds good to me even when they are experienced at walking on the lead. And yes I believe a lot of it is about tethering indoors and outdoors wuffles - thanks, have to admit my experience with the local kennel club wasn't awe-inspiring with our other dog but perhaps we just had the wrong trainer, we are certainly looking into taking them there it just comes down to logistics with two dogs, two adults and two kids At the moment we are looking at hubby taking one dog each week and keep swapping them over. And yes I have discovered the awesome power of the BBQ chicken