bozthepup

Hi Bellatrix I hope you are holding up okay. I am learning the first days are so unpredictable as to how we might feel or what might trigger emotional outbursts. We have just flown back into Australia and I have never endured such a long 20+ hours; tears welling in my eyes at any given moment, streaming down my face - at the thought of a happy Bozzy moment, or the terrible thought of him leaving this earth. What should have been utter excitement on the plane with the thought of being reunited with our happy little fella, was nothing but grief. When we got back home, the ugg boot he had chewed and loved, spun in circles and growled at, was on the verandah, his little swimming pool out the back full of dirty rainwater - he loved so much to hop in and out of that when he galloped his crazy laps around the yard. It's so hard for family and those close to him, especially OH who loved him so much and in a very special way. How Bozzy loved licking OH's face gleefully !! The person that was minding him for us on holiday was in fact his breeder and is going through his own terrible time, we all have our personal feelings of guilt and what ifs. We 'left' our pup to go on holiday, the accident that killed Boz was on his farm - but there is nothing to be gained in that; we will all get through it. There is no blame anywhere - we are trying to laugh, we are crying, and reading, but mostly remembering what a beautiful little life he had and how utterly simple things were for him, and are for all pups and dogs. Today, I read this to OH from Marley and me which is particuarly moving and cathartic for us:- He came into our lives just as we were trying to figure out what they would become. He joined us as we grappled with what every couple must eventually confront, the sometimes painful process of forging from two distinct pasts one shared future. He became part of our melded fabric, a tightly woven and inseperable strand into the weave that was us. Just as we had helped shape him into the family pet he would become, he helped to shape us, as well - as a couple, as parents, as animal lovers, as adults. Despite everything, all the disappointments and unmet expectations, Marley had given us a gift, at once priceless and free. He taught us the art of unqualified love. How to give it, how to accept it. Where there is that, most of the other pieces fall into place. take care, my thoughts are with you and your family. Boz's mum.

Oh poor poor little Lucy, I am so sorry you had to go through such a terrible experience with your little girl and to see her suffer. I keep asking myself why and who makes these things happen ????? Thoughts are with you through the grieving and the healing. Boz will be running round with all his little playmates, including Lucy, and having the best time imaginable.

The love of our life, Bosley, has gone and it is surreal. We are overseas on holiday and just got news he was involved in an accident while being minded on a farm. He was four and a half months old. How or where do you start to answer why a little pup is taken from you right when he'd managed to dig himself an irreplaceable spot in your heart, as deep as his naughty little still-too-big-for-his-body paws could get him ?

Hi bozthepup I'm so glad you've replied as it was your original question on the forum that gave me the idea to join! I'd been on the 'net' to try and get answers. We've just finished the 4 weeks of puppy pre-school and he had a ball! Came home exhausted every Saturday and slept for the rest of the day. He played a lot with a choc. lab bitch same age as him, but he was always 'on-top' and had to be constantly separated by the teachers. Interestingly he got on really well with smaller dogs and wasn't so dominant with them. He met an adult dalmation one day last week on our walk and he was quite submissive and over-whelmed. Maybe I should foster him out for a week or two!! I know it will improve but I guess I'm impatient and want him to be well-behaved all the time - an impossible ask at his age. I don't want to be negative either as he's the most beautiful boy and is a real joy to have around - when he's on the ground and not clamped to my flesh!! I know !! I am / was totally the same; the joy they bring is so immense but they're so naughty !!! Sounds exactly like Boz a puppy school; his black labbie friend and he got on perfectly and I think they're immediately drawn together with similar energy levels. Interestingly though, Boz's sister (who he's going to stay with when we go on hols next week), he's a little aggro with - and while they're fine, it's not like his best little buddy. I guess they have personalities and 'doggy friends' they get on well with, just like humans. Anyway, if you can arrange play dates with other pups and dogs that aren't too big and have all their shots etc., that helped us no end.

thanks dozersmum. Dozer is such a sweetie ! How old now ?

thank you ! He munches on chicken wings also and loves them. His tiny little teeth are so cuuuuute !! But sharp ... :rolleyes:

Hi everyone Can people give me any info on the process of baby teeth and puppies ? Boz has lost a couple of his front ones; I'm assuming the adult teeth will grow in their place !!! Do their canines only grow once ? Also, I like to give him bones to supplement his diet but wonder if they might be a little hard on his teeth just yet. he's 16 weeks. tks !

Hi tobysmum We have the same aged boy, he came to us a little early and his biting was horrendous at around 12-13 weeks. It's awful and you obviously already have experience with labbies - we didn't, and OH wanted to throttle him, me and everyone in between. I didn't read back through this fully but has he had much interaction with other pups ? We were besides ourselves with frustration, tried everything, Boz started puppy school and then made a little friend (black lab) who he stayed with for a week. They played and play bit constantly and he came back to us a much improved pup. He still bites playfully but not every single time we pet him. When he was at his worst, he had witching hours where he was so excitable it was not funny ... we tried to identify these and put him in his crate to calm down, which worked pretty well. Boz still jumps (I have to warn people) - but he's improving and we tell him to sit as far in advance as possible (ie when we see people coming or know someone is at the door. We also employed the method of ignoring him whenever we got home for 5 mins or so and then greeted him we WE were ready. I think this helped. When he was at his worst, we also booked an appt with Steve at K9 and have that in March so I can share info there too. Best of luck; I'm sure it will improve !

Hi catandgrant totally and utterly empathise and sympathise - it got so bad for us, I thought hubby was going to send him back to the breeder. We tried everything (see 'puppy biting - nothing working' link back a few pages http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...155873&hl=) - but he did grow out of it. It coincided with him starting puppy school and going to stay with another pup a week older while we were away for work - so it was either bite inhibition, growing older or a combo of both. Try to have patience and don't let it get you down. Boz still play bites but it's a gentle nibble and he knows now. Heck, he can even drive a boat without biting !

Aw, thanks. And Martha is so sweet too ! How old is she now ? He's going okay with his distractions but is always a work in progress ! Thanks for the reply. He is at an absolutely beautiful stage right now; still cheeky but just a joy. ;)

Thanks for the great advice!!! When you had him in the laundry did you take him out to the toilet when he cried or did you set an alarm to get him up. WE cant decide what to do! At the moment when he cries we go to him and take him straight outside to wee and wait till he has done his business then bring him straight back in and to bed. Its only when we put him down again that he doesnt wnat to sleep and cries for quite a while afterwards. Last night one session went for 30 mins. Pretty much tearing our hair out by that stage!!! Hopefully soon we will stop feeling like zombies and maybe get a bit more sleep. Fingers crossed. All good traing for when we have children i guess!! hi catandgrant I actually wake up without the alarm now but, yes, I would suggest going to him before he wakes up needing to go. With Boz at 14 weeks now, I average twice sometimes once a night. So put him to bed at 10, go out around 1-2am, then again around 4-5am. I wake him up, he's very groggy but does his toilet and straight back to laundry and sleep. It seems to work pretty well no accidents for a while now.

Something you could try now is doing the things he already does well, outside of the home, or at least add distractions.. The next step would be to do sit training in different areas ( my advice would be to NOT do "come" training until you are sure he will respond- ifthey get away with not obeying just once, it reeeeally makes things tricky for future training! ) I would continue using treats randomly as well-he is still a little pup so that will be his main motivation until your praise being his main motivation will take over. great idea, kelpie pup thanks. I wasn't able to go to his last pup school class last week but apparently he was quite good at doing the obedience stuff amongst the chaos of puppyville. I will keep working on that, plus intersperse play and obedience more regularly and do so on his walks etc. He is not great at come but is improving so I might lay off this for a while. I thought about also working on 'stand' a little more from the sitting position.

Hi Catherine Congrats on your new pup !! We were in a similar position with our lab boy - we'd both had dogs as kids/teenagers but didn't really know what to expect (Mum did all the work back then, plus there wasn't so much information around about puppy behaviour ) Boz is 14 weeks today and is sure to present plenty more challenges as he heads towards adolescence but I've bullet pointed some of our stuff below. One thing I have learned from this great site and other literature is that there seems to be alot of good guidelines around, but not everything suits every pup. - we put him in the laundry, door closed. We got him at 6 wks (too early, we know that now ) He cried alot, we ignored him totally (I really would recommend this on any behaviour you want to eliminate) .... he would woke up very early, and toileted on the floor of the laundry during the night. - we took him to the front door of the neighbours' houses, introduced him (and ourselves to the neighbours on one side) and explained we had a pup and apologised in advance for any extra noise. I'm sure your little one is cute enough to help smooth things over with your neighbours and most people are pretty reasonable when they know the extra noise isn't going to last forever (hopefully!). - at about 9 weeks, we moved him to the crate (and had been crate training during the day), and put it outside our bedroom with the door open so he could see us. He barely cried, and we got/get up twice in the night to let him toilet. We tend to take him out at around 1am then again at 5am. This stops him from waking us at 5.30am ! He knows exactly what to do now. - we will start graduating him back to the laundry now that he can hold his toilet a bit better, and will let him out once during the night. - I still use the crate when I want to know where he is (eg instead of running round the house) -and also when he goes to stay elsewhere, plus of course in the car. He doesn't LOVE the crate but he goes in it. I also use it to calm him a bit if he goes loopy in the house. - he's a lab, so no eating issues - we've had ALOT of issues with him play biting us, but hard. It got really frustrating and quite upsetting at times; he's a retriever so they tend to be 'mouthy' dogs. However - touch wood - we seem to be in a much better place now. He just finished 4 weeks at pup school, and also 10 days with a friend who has a 15 wk old labbie and they played together all day. I think he learned HEAPS about bite inhibition and also has just gotten a little more mature. I hope this helps a little bit because there are bound to be other issues that come up; but they are overridden by the joy of owning a pup. Anyway, you can see plenty of great info from the other posts with people more experienced than me. This was / is just our personal experience.

Boz turns 14 weeks tomorrow, I am wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction regarding next steps in training. There are probably some links here ? He sits, stays drops nicely, waits for his food etc. Our local kennel club will not accept pups for another 4 weeks so I'm just looking for some new things to teach him. We are not wanting to show him at obedience or anything just trying to employ techniques that will hopefully mean he becomes a well behaved fella.

well the jury is in and the verdict is ... not sure !! Boz was already inside the house when I arrived as his sister in law (human) had picked him up for us. He ears were right back and tail going crazy - so he either remembered me or he just loves people so much he was just happy that I was a human ! Anyway, it's soooo good to be back with him - he's grown heaps ! thanks for input everyone

Good to hear - although I forgot to mention that BTP will greet strangers pretty happily; so it might be hard for me to tell what he's 'thinking'. Main thing is, when those lil ears goes back and he comes running towards me with the the tail going crazy, I won't know for sure .... but it be lovely anyway!

Awww... I hadn't thought about talking to him on the phone; my work colleagues would find that conversation interesting I'm sure ! His puppy sitter keeps saying 'where's mummy ?' but as she said, he looks at her like she's an idiot. Quite funny to picture though. I think a big part of it is how quickly they grow at this stage so I feel like I'm missing as his little puppy face turns into a doggy one ! Glad to hear the 6wk olds remembered you though !thanks for that

Hi everyone I have had to go interstate for work for a fortnight and wondering if there is any science - or perhaps anecdoctes are more appropriate here - on puppy memory ? Boz turned 14 weeks yesterday and his puppy-sitter has plenty of space and a labbie 15 weeks old - so he is thriving on his own little holiday (see photo). Anyway, being a silly mother I am wondering how quickly he will remember me when I get back on the weekend - or will he recognise me immediately ? I am interested to know how long memory takes to develop (I generally feed him and tend to be around the house more than OH) I miss him !

Okay i find the above interesting ,i have never heard off someone moulding a dog into what you like. So i guess y question is what the households expectations ?? I could be totally off track but I'm sensing a frown accompanies your question /statement here re moulding, settrlvr ? Perhaps mould is not the right word, hence the inverted commas. Let me try to articulate it further. We thought for a long time about owning a dog, and bringing up a puppy ... and waited until our situation was as right as it could be; now that we're lucky enough to own a beautiful little fellow, we are simply trying to help the pup to develop into the healthiest and happiest he can be, and to train him to be as best we can within our limited experience. Hopefully, in talking to and meeting new dogs and dog owners, reading, and taking in some fantastic advice and opinion from places like DOL, we can set some reasonable household expectations, build on his best 'personality' traits and all live happily ever after ! But it's a learning experience for us all along the way.

Thank you so much pointeelab, esp for the final par. There is so much info swimming around in my head on trying to get him 'right' - I need to keep telling myself he's a (lab) baby !!! He really is very good on alot of fronts and I don't give him enough credit for that !!

You're right - I've stalled a bit with the obedience - actually not sure what to do next. He sits, shakes hands, drops, rolls over - sits and waits beautifully for his food (albeit he jumps up on me while I'm preparing it). I try to have 2 little 'sessions' of around 10 minutes per day of sit,shake, drop etc., with variations in the order. Then we have random sits everytime there's been a 'separation' - even if he's been outside for 2 minutes, every time we 'greet' him, it's preceeded by a sit, and then his 'love' is in the form of a good boy and pat. A bit more tough love do you think ? Also, any tips on the next types of tricks to help his obedience ? You need to take him to obedience classes - it's not about teaching tricks, it's about learning to be your dog's leader. At the moment your pup is walking all over you and it's only going to get worse and more difficult to deal with as he gets bigger. Your dog will actually be happier knowing his proper place in the pack (which is at the bottom). I've rehomed too many lab pups because people think (for some reason) that labradors are a placid breed. They're bloody nutcases!! They get to a certain age and people can't cope any more - they put them outside and ignore them for a couple of months (while the dog destroys the back yard) then they decide they want their yard back and rehome the dog. The usual story is that they've been to "puppy school" while the dog was young, thinking that was all the dog needed. Once your pup is past 12 weeks old and has had his vaccinations get him into PROPER puppy obedience with your local obedience club. These are non profit organisations and the courses are very cheap. I think my local one is thirty something dollars for an 8 week basic puppy course. Puppy school is a bit of fun for socialisation and basic manners but you need to understand that he needs more. Obedience will give you weekly contact with people knowledgable in dog behaviour who will be able to help you solve problems as they arise. Most of your issues will probably disappear once you begin earning your dogs respect. I have a pup here that loves to get up on his back legs (pointer not labrador). He gets kneed off balance at the same time as I say "NO!!" in a big voice. When he approaches me and sits at my feet he gets big pats and ear rubs. When he went through a "deaf" stage of ignoring me a few weeks back I got out the spray bottle. A few squirts for ignoring me when he was doing something wrong and all of a sudden I had authority again ;). I recognise for sure that tricks are all very well to show off to the family and friends and that sit shake and stay is a very basic starting point .... I think somewhere else here I indicated I'm not sure where to go 'next' with this kind of at home training.There is a heck of alot to take in for us and him when trying to 'mould' the kind of dog you'd like him to be. I think OH and I need to sit down again and write out how we ultimately want him to behave and be. I actually wrote some puppy rules up on the fridge yesterday while OH was at work to help us start on this track. Naturally we want to have the 'best' dog around but acheiving that we realise takes alot of work. Yes, we have looked into the local training possibilities, thanks. The local kennel club takes them from four months, so just a little longer to wait but we'll get there asap. There's nice lady down the street iwth a perfectly behaved GR who went there so it looks like a good place. The pup school we're going to isn't much chop on first impressions but the socialisation is amazing and he adores it (plus he sleeps like a log for a couple of hours afterwards so we get to clean the house !) thanks alot

Thanks all. Perspephone - you're right on the food. No need for him to be there while I"m preparing it. I'm trying TOT which calls for him to already be outside before the feed so I need to be consistent here. Do you think a lead for the entire time he's inside is good ? He's good in and around doors, usually no matter his moods. Sits and waits to be told to come in or out. Luvsdogs - yes he started puppy school last week. The jury is still out on how good this one is. He certainly loves the socialisation/play bit ! Tassie- thanks, I think the X pen could be a good idea - I'm not exactly sure what that is, but it's a pen of some kind right ? That way he's not confined to the small area of the crate but still suitably controlled. I am trying to put him outside for extended periods of time - started with 5-10 minutes and building up. Sydney is 42 degrees today where we live and he truly hates it, although he's got a little pool he cools off in. Roo - sounds like no playing at all inside is a good way to go. He associates play with outside and calmness with inside, correct ? Settlvr - he's a smart cookie, i think this could be a good approach and could help calm in down when he's in a 'mood'. He's a little Mr Gentlemen whenever he knows I've got food though .... what do you mean by 'stack' ? Kavik - I do all this with his crate - I'll see how the mat approach goes. thanks again !

You're right - I've stalled a bit with the obedience - actually not sure what to do next. He sits, shakes hands, drops, rolls over - sits and waits beautifully for his food (albeit he jumps up on me while I'm preparing it). I try to have 2 little 'sessions' of around 10 minutes per day of sit,shake, drop etc., with variations in the order. Then we have random sits everytime there's been a 'separation' - even if he's been outside for 2 minutes, every time we 'greet' him, it's preceeded by a sit, and then his 'love' is in the form of a good boy and pat. A bit more tough love do you think ? Also, any tips on the next types of tricks to help his obedience ?

THANKS !!!!!! The mat is a great idea - unfortunatley there seem two gears with this little pup, (11wko) 'fast' and 'sleep'. Do you mean kind of 'send' him to his mat ? Or take him there and sit him down ? Is the idea to make the mat a great place to be (in theory like the crate ?) And not sure how you mean about having him on the lead - to pull him down off me ? As for sit, I tell him to sit when he's in this mood, and he usually does - but never stays in that position very long - he's back up again jumping. I feed him in the crate, and put surprise treats in there regularly - he often pops his head in for a look if he's walking by but he never decides to stay in there. It's very comfy with all his fave toys etc (which I mix up) - he goes in but never ever with any enthusiasm. Maybe I should just be happy that he goes in and it's helping us with toilet training ? Our ultimate aim is to have him sleeping outside in a kennel and he'll outgrow this crate at some point anyway.

Hi everyone need some advice on two fronts. Our pup is going through a massive jumping up phase (front legs wherever he can reach, all fours if it's low enough). He jumps up on us when walking down the hallway, he jumps up on the lounge, he jumps on my office chair when I'm working at home. It is simply too hard to ignore because he scratches with his claws - and hurts ! And if I'm sitting and I ignore, he'll bite me to get attention which hurts. I feel like he is just not learning. NO reponse to 'off' ... eventually I just put him outside. I have also tried putting him in his crate but he's not exactly in love with it so I'm not sure about this as a measure (altho he sleeps in it mostly okay, gets into it somewhat begrudginly). I am also looking for ways to help myself keep calm when he's in this mood. It is simply not practical for me to 'walk away' all the time - if I'm working in the office, cooking in the kitchen etc. etc. It doesn't happen often, but just some simple measures to help myself keep calm would help.