all that glitters

Thankyou pockets!! She is a dream...except when she's hyper when we get home from work, and when she's hyper she nips at our ankles and hands and arms But otherwise she is good!

My breeder said not to bother with a divider, and at the moment my crate is twice the size of my shepherd pup! But I cram it with bedding and toys so theres no empty space for pees

I highly recommend crating pup beside your bed at night! Fill the crate with soft, nice bedding and a few safe toys. Cover it with a blanket somewhat. Make it a 'nice' place to be, feed pup treats in there, and praise it for being in there. Put pup in there as you go to bed, and it will be much calmer knowing you are asleep beside it (they can hear and smell you). Then if it needs to go loo, they will whine/make noises to let you know they have to go to the toilet (pups are taught by mummy dog not to soil their 'bedding' which is why this technique is so successful) and providing you wake up and hear the whining, you can rush it outside to pee/poo! I was lucky cos my puppy was already used to sleeping in a crate when I got her, but any new pups should settle down within a few days. I can seriously just put Shyla in her crate at bedtime, and she lies down immediately, no fussing or whining. Most nights she sleeps through to 7pm, but sometimes I have to get up at 3 or 4am cos she wants a drink or needs to pee. There may be a mistake on the first night cos pup is nervous/in a new home. My girl DID pee on her blanket in the crate on the first night, but I may have partly slept through her whining, or I was too slow to get up, cos she was doing it as I crawled out of bed LOL. Hasen't happened since tho!

Haha sweet! Soccery games sound fun too

That was a definate overload on whiskers falling out at once!

OH yeah the other good thing is that Shyla is crated at night so 1) the cats can relax and still sleep on top of me at night and 2) they can sniff her through the crate bars when she is asleep and get used to her

How about a dog door so she can have some restricted inside access? My dad spent the day here today and we took out a whole panel of window pane, and replaced it with a wooden board so he can make me a doggy door! (saves spending on a store-brought one). My pup likes both inside and out, but if she had the option to go either place herself, I think it's the best possible situation for when they are home alone However it depends on your house and if that would be possible, luckily half my house is one large lino room with minimal stuff to wreck, and the dog door will lead out into the whole backyard

Glad all is well! My girl has vocal/active dreams also...not that bad, but she YIPS and YAPS and whines and GROWLS and her little feet flicker lol.. Im not sure if its a good or bad dream sometimes!

Thanks guys! I will definately try the ball chasey thing with her Pockets I think that will incite some excitement in her cos she gets excited when I run in general! haha

LMAO totally agree!! When I could have been at work, I stayed home with her a couple of days and she slept 2.5hrs straight at my feet I was like well gee I think she'll be doing a lot of zzz's when I am not home anyway! I think her crying would tire her out more too, poor bub! But they all have to go through the initial upset until they get used to your routine.

LOL the reject-shop-soft-squeak-duck tempts even the most stubborn of dogs/any animal to play!

AWW what beautiful photos!!!!! Wow if mine ever get that close to her it will be a moment lol! Once Shyla gets over the 'oooo cat, lets chasey and play!' phase I think we might start to see them taking on friendships! When shes fast asleep on the floor, even the biatches come over and give her fur a good sniff.. so thats a good sign! Right now shes sleeping at my feet, I have a bitchy cat on my lap, and sooky big cat boy sitting next to her.. but he's also making sure she doesn't want up hehe. Other bitchy cat is on the couch above looking down. BUT when my cats are scared/put off, one of the girls especially will hide in the closet and not come out for HOURS. She did that on the first night, but never hides now, phew! She's also been known to pee on dirty washing on the floor, or random towels and sheets lying around. Even a soft toy! Mum was like "shes gonna pee everywhere now cos shes jealous" but she hasent so far

Well I was very worried bringing Shyla home because we have 3 cats who have lived and grown up here for 4 yrs, and the house is their domain. I was worried they would become different and less affectionate/would get anxiety etc. But I have to say they dealt with it MUCH better than expected! Salem our 8kg big cat I knew would be fine, and he is, he even lets her sniff his head and jump on him without giving her a whack. The two girl cats (sisters) are more bitchy, but will happily walk past her and do their normal cat stuff, they just flatten their ears back and get VERY narky and angry if she barks at them and wants to play. I guess to them it looks threatening/like unwanted behavior.. if only they knew her intentions! But after a few swipes from them, she knows she can try to rouse them up, but to keep that little 'distance' which is good. So how did everyone else find their resident cats coped with a puppy coming home?

Hope his foot mends up quick!

Do dogs take a liking to chasing balls and playing fetch as they get a bit older?? Shyla doesn't seem interested in balls, if I throw one she chases it, smells it, then keeps on exploring the grass lol. Should I be trying to encourage her to play, or is it just cos she is young and can't concentrate on one thing for long?

I have a large crate big enough for an adult shep, but my pup is only a baby shep atm! My breeder said don't bother dividing the cage, just bulk it up with blankies so it all seems 'beddy' and it worked She only ever peed in there on the first night which could have been me not hearing her whine/nerves/first night/confused. All good now tho

Oh good point wire! I have played with her previous mornings so I will try less attention in the morning and see how that pans out, and save the affection for the evenings til she settles

Thanks Pockets!!! Im sure she will be fine She likes outside at times, it depends, still cries at the door if I leave tho! Can't wait til shes a bit older so this crying phase is over!? I'm sure it will be in no time

About the crying like a strangled cat.. My pup is doing that too It lasts from 5-25mins depending, then she shuts up and sleeps for a bit. My pup also had her 2nd day alone while we were at work, and her blanket felt warm so I think she had been sleeping/lying down before we came home. She hears us come through the front door though, so starts whining.. and some of her furry toys were wet in saliva so she was chewing em which is good lol. Mine also cries when I leave her outside and come back in without her, although yesterday arvo she stopped making noise after 5 minutes and laid in the sun and listened to the dog next door bark.. she stayed out there quietly for 20mins!! Then later when I tried again she cried, I think it will just solve itself as our pups age and know their routine!

Oh yes I would love to meet your GSD gang also!!! You are about an hour away from me which isn't bad!

Shall do! She enjoys a sniff outside and is more independent outside cos there are more 'distractions' so I think she will like being able to choose to go out there or not - but can still have the comforts of inside

Well Shyla is 9 weeks old and I have a couple short training sessions with her daily. She does come, sit, drop, stand.. and tonight she somehow magically learnt shake! That seemed too easy..

Thanks boz!

Yep we are all different in how we manage our dogs, but if it works, it works. Keep them inside, keep them outside, feed them this, walk them for this long, crate for this amount of time, leave alone for this long.. I guess thats what makes the forum so diverse with so many opinions

Thanks guys! I shall install a dog door within the next few weeks