mrs tornsocks

can't remember if you crate her or not FT ? Maybe if you do you might want to think about moving her (slowly) to another room. Not sure if that will help but having you close might make her more inclinced to yap to wake you up... or you might be stirring, turning over etc and if she's sleeping lightly, that actually wakes her up ?? I take it she had another 5am wake up today ??

My boy sleeps alot too. I posted this on DOL and a number of people mentioned more sleep required as they have growth spurts. Not sure if yours has always been sleepy but mine was happy to sleep for virtually 9am - 1pm today, I had to get him up and outside for a play etc and then his turkey wing kept him awake for a while

mmmm, I wonder why ? Does she cry and go out to toilet or just she just wake up and want to play ? How old is she now ? When ours woke up too early for our liking, we set the alarm to beat him to it, took him out for wees, then put him back in and he was sleepy enough to go down again until a more hospitable hour, 7 or 730. I figured that if he's going to wake me up at 5am, I was going to be waking up anyway, so why not wake up at 4 and get a few hours extra sleep. Just a thought.

FT, Archie goes to be around 10pm, maybe 15 minutes either side, and wakes up about 7. He wakes a little bit later than he used to as a younger pup (he's now 4.5 months). What time are you putting her to bed ?

Just out of interest ... your 6 yo sleeps for 19 hours ?? Goes to bed at 2pm and wakes up at 9am (ish) - the next day ?

;) Yummy ! I was WONDERING what I should make for dinner tonight ? :D

FT do you take her for a walk or some other 'fun' outing at the same time as the school run, or is this feasible ? If she is going to school, watching the kids get out, going back home and getting out of the car again, she's associating the car with just that .. the car. I guess once you've tried to decipher whether it's stress excitement or car sickness you could take her on a few more fun trips. Archie cried a bit the first few trips to puppy school (and was zonked the whole way home !) -- we had him in his crate. When he got too big for the crate, we bought a harness and now he just sits there happily. I am sure she'll get better !

At the moment his bottom canines stick into the gum alongside his top ones and do cause an indent, with a bit of redness and very occasional spots of blood. Again, this does not seem to bother him at all. We'll see when the new canines appear.

No, you make a very good point, perhaps I'm being a little over-zealous. I guess if it starts to cause him problems, that's when I should call in the experts.

Our 4.5 month old pooch has an overbite that we are keeping an eye on as he grows and teeths. He's lost quite a few teeth now, although the canines and molars still seem to be babies (I'm a novice owner so can't exactly tell). Our vet has mentioned that the 4-5-6 month period as he loses all his baby teeth will be able to give us a clearer picture of how he might grow but at this stage the overbite seems to be the same, or perhaps a bit worse (approx 10-12mm). Vet has mentioned one option might be 're-aligning' the jaw (ie breaking and re-setting ) under GA. I'm not sure if perhaps this could be done during de-sexing, or whether six months (when we plan to spey him) is still too young. I guess I'm looking for an alternative opinion or two on this so if anyone knows a good mouth specialist, I'd appreciate some tips ! thanks ! ETA. he's a labrador

Our 4.5 month old lab has been great so far in learning basic commands/tricks and in Oct we'll start taking him to the local kennel club/obedience. In the meantime, I am just looking for some tips on a daily training ideas for say 10-15 mins in the backyard. I am lucky to work at home so I can give him some play and training time a few times during the day. He goes on walks each day and during the walk I try to utilise some of the 'natural' distractions to help with his training. But I also like him to have 'doggy' time during the walk and allow him off leash occasionally as well (mix things up a bit). I guess the question is, what would be a few training exercises to run through with him in 10 mins in the backyard ? This would be on top of play time/tug o war, fetches etc which I spend 5 minutes or so at a time doing through the day. He can sit, drop, stay (and stay for extended periods) and do some 'novelty' tricks very nicely. His heel needs some work and general pulling on walks is a little bit of an issue. His recall is not bad at all for a pup but something I'd like to improve upon. Does anyone have any thoughts ? Any tips/info much appreciated.

Hi, in regards to not waiting for the 2nd vaccination, does that means your training school accepts pups without them? If so, I might be interested. =) Cause I reckon my puppy's too hyper and would do great with the mental stimulation and socialization. Of the two pre schools I've been to, both accept pups before their final vaccs, but all pups have to show the vacc certs. These have both been in the grounds of a vet so I guess there is some level of risk but you would think minimal. I would take him. On another note, my vet reccomended 7 days between third vacc and going into the big wide world.

Crate ! Read up on the plentiful threads here, you can search and specify crate training in the puppy thread

;) I can see why !! What raw stuff actually lasts for them then ?

What breed is China Sandra ?

Just out of interest ... I regularly give our 4.5 month old lab pup chicken frames, yummy yummy. I gave him one just now and regularly look out the window to check on him. Gave it to him, went back out maybe 5 mins later - gawn !!!! In the past he took maybe 15 mins or more to eat it, now he has some of his big teeth, much less. He chews reasonably well now (for a lab) How long does your dog take to demolish one ?

What are you / have you told him off for now or in the past ? Has anyone else in the house roused on him for anything ? As a rule, I think positive reinforcement is the way to go for puppies. Of course they need to have boundaries but they need all the help they can get to learn what the RIGHT thing is and being praised rather than the wrong thing and being roused on. Reccommend you read the pinned section about puppy development and fear periods. eta. the section from puppy development • Selective deafness? (5-9 Months) It's no surprise to see puppies pretend not to hear your known commands at this age. It's at this age we introduce more formal training including consequences for disobedience. Dogs often chew & destroy things that have your scent on them at this point too, many pups are dumped before 9 months... why? Because they now have strength, they getting bigger, faster & less reactive to a simple "no"… By now they have either been taught to walk on a loose leash or pull on the leash.. • Second Fear Period (8 - 16 Months) As puppies become what is called gangly, long legs due to growth spurts, they seem to become a little weaker in nerve than previously noted. It's strange sounds, new sights that often spook a dog more easily than just a week ago... It's at this time we need to be good leaders, when your dog baulks at a stairway, keep walking at full pace to show your pup all is ok. Coddling him when he shows fear will re enforce that fear & you will have to work to get over it later. More training now is crucial to his behavioural development.

any preference for area ? I can reccomend a good one in western sydney http://www.cheekypup.net.au/

Warranty a major issue as you mention. Very rare to get local service / warranty on US-purchased stuff. Some camera brands offer it, but double check. My OH bought an apple mac and had to ensure he upgraded to an int'l warranty, same with us for our GPS that we bought while living there.

Run free boy.

For Sydney & Melb Canon owners - Digital camera warehouse is having a Canon 'night' -seems like it might be for amateurs. ps. I have no association with this place, just heading over there to look at a few cameras today and saw on their website http://digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au/

im feeling your pain...But as its been said before you must ignore the behaviour you DONT want praise/reward the behavior you DO want...its hard Matt but you both must do this to work...if he bites your feet get up and walk away,turn your back to him...this is all the advice i have got from here and it takes time BUT does work....just do searches on here.....Good luck, i do love pugs also..... Hey choco's ma ... this made me wonder, has choco's nipping improved? You haven't mentioned anything on labs forum for a while, just wondering.... :rolleyes:

Well today is TGIF in more ways than one. The oodles are gone !! I think Archie is secretly pleased as well, even though he was the garbage guts that gobbled up their left over food and wrestled with one of them. I took the poor pooches back to their house - my Mum is staying at brother's tonight and the family gets back tomorrow. Brother rang last night to see how they were getting on - he was at a pay phone so I chose not to bring the issue up then, I just left them ... and now I will spend the weekend getting stinkiness out of the house. Rommimum, I know what you mean ! I gave the really matted one some attention and a good pat yesterday (I must admit I didn't give them many cuddles at all, they just don't appeal to me, esp in that state) ... he is a real sook and loved the attention - but my god, the matting. I briefly thought, what would it be like if I got the scissors out and just snipped a few out ? But of course I didn't..... ETA: as well as the coat issues, we have a new found love for our little fur boy Archie, who's only 4 months. Don't hear this very often re a lab, but he is just SO SENSIBLE compared to them. I would not call myself a master trainer by any stretch but it makes me feel so glad that we've invested the time and effort in working with him on training and socialisation etc.

Here's me n little Archie on his first trip to the beach last week.

Probably it's also due partly to the fact that they are awake for most of the day when they would normally be dozing. Very true. Archie usually dozes by my feet most of the day when I'm home and I'm pretty sure he's doing the same right now in the sun in the backyard while I'm out. And even when he goes to canine kindy for an hour and half, he is absolutely knackered for the rest of the day after all that physical and mental exertion.