all that glitters

Oh good on you! I am sure my neighbour wouldn't mind, he is sooo nice. His Boxer passed away a month ago and we happened to have a chat to him a week later, he was devastated. The next day he rang the doorbell and offered me two strong food/water bowls that we could use now that they didn't have a dog. Isn't that sweet? Like I am sure he wouldnt mind, but I have this issue with annoying people. I don't even ring people on the phone incase I am annoying them or being a burden! haha! I am gonna take her to meet him and his wife when we get her, so ill go to their door and say hi with her, and ill just ask them what they did with their pup when they worked daily (ill ask if they got someone to come feed him and let him out for pees, because it has been suggested to me that I should get someone to do so for me) and then maybe I'll just wait and see if he offers, or be like sooo if you are home in the afternoons and wouldn't mind swinging by for about 10 minutes to blah blah blahh.. lol.

Neither am I GSDs have been a breed I have dreamed of since I was a little girl, they are such a true dog to me (a lot of other breeds aren't proper dogs IMO haha!). I've always been drawn to breeds that have the shape of a dog (much like a wolf), long noses like wolves, long legs and sturdy paws. I would have chosen a Sibe, but after reading about the extra little things that you have to take into account with those beauties, I decided a GSD would be better suited to me

Ohhh thanks Pockets! Yes that totally makes sense! And I'm hoping to make a start on that after the first day I have with her, so I will have Sun/Mon/Tue/Wed to start to leave her alone for small amounts of times, yep yep Do I have to continue this for a long while, or just til she settles into the routine? My 'outside' will be the big lino area that gets shut off, so I will start by putting her in there on her own for little bits, and I should also do it with the outside itself too I guess, so she doesn't totally hate the backyard! Maybe after toileting I can spend time with her outside to show that outside is fun too, and try leaving her there for little bits too. Cos otherwise if its cold I would imagine myself running out there, she goes to the loo, gets praise and we run back inside -- which would end up with a dog that doesnt know the backyard/outdoors is OK too! lol.

Thankyou tez! What an encouraging, positive response! I am sure me and my baby will be fine If I lived close to work (or worked close to home? lol) I would totally drop in to give her a break! But I work 40 minutes away, as does my partner, bleh! Ah well, not everything can be perfect i guess Im sure she will sleep alot too

I did the same with my pup feeding in the morning and then when we got home and them before bedtime If you have a kong, you can leave some treats in that - fry food and mince etc so she gets a third small meal. As for asking your neighbour, i didn't and it worked well for me but it is up to you. Good luck and enjoy your pup, they grow up way too quickly And a crate in your room is a wonderful thing, but be prepared for some noise the first night THANKYOU B.Evie! I feel heaps better now, puggy was making me feel like a meany lol Wow that kong idea with treats is a GREAT idea too! Totally didnt think of that as a 'meal' I guess it would just be a meal where she has to work at it

Hubby and I are a bit confused about this part - He thinks flood and drought means when you ARE home with her don't smother her with too much company (flood) and then suddenly when your gone she has none (drought)? But that cant be right cos your supposed to give them attention and company when at home

Thanks guys! I have bought a large crate for her already, and will have it set up next to my bed for night times Well for the 3 feeds I was going to feed her in the morning, when we get home, and an hour before bed. I am not super close friends with the neighbours, we talk to the nice man next door who just retired, but I would feel rude asking him to pop in every afternoon to give her food and take her outside for toilet -- or is it not rude? I don't really know. Do I offer to pay him or something? lol I've never really asked for favours before. Im sure ill stop stressing once she is actually here and we get into the swing of things.. Situations are always more stressful before you take them on!

Yep!! Thats what I plan to do with mine in the beginning :rolleyes:

Well my GSD baby comes home in 10 days!! I am very very nervous. And as usual I have some questions! 1) Toilet-training while working fulltime Mine will be inside when I am at work, in a large lino area with the doors shut so she cant get to the carpeted areas. She will be alone 9hrs at a time so I of course expect her to make messes. I was told to just ignore the messes and clean them up when she isn't looking, and to continue strict toilet training practises in the evenings/whenever we are home, til she learns to hold? And that teaching her to go on newspaper will teach her that going in the house in general is ok - so to avoid training to paper. Does that sound right? At least it will be easy to clean off lino. Im not that fussed about cleaning up the mess, I'm more worried about her being stressed out about being alone! 2) Speaking of being alone.. My biggest fear is the whole leaving her alone thing. Hubby and I are gone 8am-5 or 6pm Monday to Friday, and I felt horrible before but it seems a lot of other DOLers work fulltime and leave their pups alone and they are fine too! I am getting her Friday night, and have Saturday,Sunday,Monday,Tuesday off. I thought in the Sunday/Mon/Tue part I can start practising closing her in the big lino room on her own and working up the length of time I leave her in there. Do I just ignore her crying?? Do I only go back in there after she has stopped crying for 5 mins? 15mins? When I leave for work I have no choice but to leave at 8.10am or I will be late (work 40mins away). I will just have to close the door and walk off -- will she stop crying after being in the routine for a few weeks? Heck, maybe I will be lucky and she won't cry at all! :rolleyes: Will she adjust to being alone in the daytimes? I will have a radio on for her, a big comfy bed, HEAPS of toys, and water. I hope as he grows that she will sleep for a lot of the time, or find interest in her toys. Could she successfully be kept indoors, cos a few people have laughed at me and told me I am crazy to keep a big dog inside I have a nice yard and if she is happy out there when older, she can be, but I don't want to annoy neighbours with barking and I dont like the risks of the outdoors (theft, poisoning, complaints, escape, bugs, weather, etc). And I don't mind keeping her inside as we have this nice big lino area. And if she grows older and doesn't chew stuff, she can progress into the rest of the house and have 3 cats as company 3) Home alone treats and toys I have a big stash of new toys for her, a few kongs, kong ball, kong bone, treat ball, teethers, cuz ball, ropey toy etc. I hope to get more and alternate groups of toys. Can I also give her those rawhide sticks and pigs ears? Or are these bad? What about those bones you can buy in clear plastic wrap that look like they have been 'cooked' (they are brown)? 4) Correcting naughty behavior When teaching her right and wrong, how do I correct her? Do I pick a bad word like "No" or "Leave it" or "uh uh" and apply that to all bad things? When she stops the bad behavior, do I wait a few moments, then praise her for having stopped, or will this still be praising the bad behavior that she had just been doing a minute before? 5) Foods at 8wks onwards I will be feeding the little miss Eagle Pack Holistic Puppy Large Breed as the breeder has been, and will be doing 3 meals a day. When can I introduce raw bones? Do I wait til she is much older before adding sardines to her diet (mum gives hers some a few times a week) 6) Does that spray you put on wood/furniture to deter chewing really work, and if so, which one really works? I have nothing that can be destroyed in the big lino room except for a pool table with wooden legs, and some old couches we dont care about/that can be removed. Otherwise the room will be mainly toys and a snuggly bed and waterbowl. I'm dreading the day I have to go back to work after getting her cos I will worry sick I guess all you other fulltime workers felt the same way in the beginning tho? I'm a stresshead.

So if my pup had her first vaccination at 6 weeks, will she get the 2nd at 10 weeks? Then I can take her out maybe 2 weeks after that?

Thankyou Love ASD! I didn't understand the titre testing before, but now I do! Pup has just had her 6wk vacc the other day, and I guess she gets the 2nd vacc at 10weeks old which makes her good to go in terms of meeting other dogs in parks etc, no worries etc.. do I still get next year's vaccination done, and then get her titre tested? Or just get her titre tested later this year and maybe avoid next years booster? I guess I'll ask my vet Definately something I never knew about! Before this forum I thought vaccinating yearly was not a questionable thing. I would definately prefer not injecting my precious dog with the stuff every year if its not entirely necessary. will definately look into this

For those who don't vaccinate yearly - how often do you? How do you explain to your eager-to-vaccinate-yearly-vet that you don't want to? We vaccinate our 3 cats yearly but they are indoor only cats, maybe we shouldn't? Dilemmas!

CONGRATS!!! Just beautiful, I'm sure they will share the beauty of Kinta! She's a stunner!

Is he OK??

Very interesting thread! Does the same apply to a GSD puppy, given their bigger susceptibility to hip problems? eg - When can I take her for a 15/20 minute walk around the block? Not til a year old?

I'm also eager to see the suggestions to your question - as I am still learning, and I wonder sometimes whether to ignore or perform a correction in certain situations?

Well I have found out the breeder feeds the pups Eagle Pack! I have ordered a bag of it so that I can continue feeding it, and I'll see how pup goes on it as she grows. Wouldn't mind changing to RC GSD just cos it's a little cheaper, but if she's happy on the Eagle pack I'll just stick to it, even if it is expensive. I'll just reduce the feeding guideline a little as I give her raw meaty bones too I suppose Do others feed Eagle Pack too? It IS quite expensive on the pocket it seems LOL. Also, in regards to airtight containers, I got one of those large rectangle plastic tubs from Sam's Warehouse, with a colored lid that sits over the top, and has a latch on either small end. Would this be 'airtight'?

These are the ingredients for the RC German Shepherd Junior food Ingredients: rice, dehydrated poultry meat, vegetable protein isolate, animal fats, hydrolysed animal proteins, beet pulp, vegetable fibres, minerals, fish oil, egg powder, soya oil, fructo-oligo-saccharides, psyllium husks and seeds, L-lysine, sodium polyphosphate, yeast extract (source of manno-oligo-saccharides), DL-methionine, taurine, hydrolysed crustaceans (source of glucosamine), marigold extract (source of lutein), hydrolysed cartilage (source of chondroitin). But I could only find it on the UK RC Site. Does that mean any bag I get here in Aussie will be the saem good ingredients? ---- Thanks settrvlr! I will definately ask what they are feeding, and I will most probably change to RC GSD junior, but of course very gradually over time I just love the ingredients

Well after looking up lots of different dry foods for my future German Shepherd pup, I'm quite keen on: ~ Royal Canin German Shepherd ~ Dr. Vick Patterns Natural Balance The only downfall is they are both quite expensive, but it's not like I CANT afford them A couple of people have told me Advance is a pretty good 'affordable' brand, but I don't like how corn is in the first 4 ingredients. Royal Canin and the Natural Balance have no by-products, corn, corn gluten meal, or grains and cereals that look bad, so I would feel quite happy feeding them. Does anyone feed either of these good brands, and have good results, and am I way better off feeding one of those 2 instead of Advance if I can afford it? Thanks!

Definately get pup used to your routine from the start. She will learn how it's gunna be from day to day, and if you get her used to doggy day care and not much alone-time like she will have when you work, she'll be very confused and upset when you DO get her into the real routine! I'm getting my 8wk old GSD pup in May and I am taking maybe a Monday, Tuesday off (connected to a weekend) so I have 4 days to settle her in, and in that time I will immediately start leaving her alone for periods and working it up. Of course I am expecting her to cry initially, the routine that we call 'life' will be very different to the little pups first off.. as all they are used to is being with siblings and company all the time! I'm sure they will accustom themselves to our lives pretty quickly, if done from the young age and from Day 1