lindadiosa

:D for the links! Loving all the information Going home to put in practice!! ;)

Few posts have mentioned this! Am I giving her a treat when she speaks therefore rewarding it or am I praising? How do you guys teach the 'speak' and 'quiet' or 'shoosh' commands? :p Another one really difficult so far is 'drop' or 'lie down' she refuses to do it all the way and show her tummy to me. ;) BTW, last night there was no tantrum, I gave her, her kong toys while cooking dinner and she was happy to just lay there and wrestle with it :p

I keep Monte on her toes like this as well. She does it... most of the time All these posts are great and I think I get the underlined message: PATIENCE & CONSISTENCY! Thanks!

I can see where you coming from Poodlefan. Monte is my first introduction to the big world of dogs and in the three weeks we've had her, I could not see myself without her. She has become so much part of the family and she comes everywhere with us so I don't feel scared at all but I am always questioning her every move and over reading it sometimes. Believe me I have done my research and that's why I'm questioning her latest behaviour but then i have no practice whatsoever only theory and tons of it!!

Lappiemum thanks for those questions... you've put me to think

Ditto! My 15wk Cocker Spaniel sleeps a lot during the day, so in the evenings (and just before bed) gets most nippy/growly. Trying to cure him of the nipping disease ... lol, so distract him with his toys, play with him, then give him a few 'fetches' before crating him for the night. If I take the time to play and tire him out a little, he's much more likely to settle down quicker. Have only just seen an improvement in the last few nights around the nipping and growling, so am thinking its probably a combination of age and being consistently told 'no'. But mostly age ... but if she wants to play why the growling and the barking? It feels aggressive and all Im thinking about is when she is older and how worse it can get!! . If we don't fix it of course!!

Hi Guys! Well maybe I'm being over dramatising the whole thing like my OH says but I think Monte is developing an attitude I dont like! It usually happens in the evening after she has been fed and we all want some quite time. We bring her in and immediately she starts running around the house all frantic and out of control, which we ignore. (try!! ) She then escalates this and runs to me or my husband, mainly me, and starts the nipping and mouthing at my feet, I ignore this until it gets too much and I point my finger at her looking into her eyes wtih no sound. This she clearly hates cos the barking begins and the running gets faster and then the growling starts!! Once I'm pointing my finger at her and she does all this, it looks as if she wants to bite my finger off cos she tries to jump up to nip it!. Im not showing fear though cos Im still standing over her doing this but twice I've just had enough and start chasing her around the house to grab her and carry her out of the house and I've left her there for awhile. I find my voice starts to get loud and loud so I've chosen to just give her the look with no sound. Is this ok? Once she comes in after these 'episodes' she is calmer and goes straight to her bed. But why did she do it in the first place? I find something also that triggers all this is when we are watching TV and she wants to be patted. Our hands are either covered with a blanket or cushion and she can't see them. The tantrums begin. Puppy school begins next week but any insight will be appreciated!!

Would you guys recommend GB for 11 week old puppy or is this more of a diet once they are fully grown? It doesn't sound too bad at all. She is currently on Eukanuba for puppies (2 cups a day).

Just wondering Shelle, is there a big price difference between both? Is she only on dry food? Monte has been on Eukanuba since we brought her home and I'm considering a more 'economical' way without comprimising quality though. :p

Sorry Mandy, don't mean to hijack your post but wonder if the bones in those bags sold at butchers are any good. I fed my 12wk old one yesterday and it seemed to last her the whole day. She would bury it and unbury it and then eat at it and bury it again. But the issue is this morning her poo wasn't solid and it seemed like it had dirt in it or something. Any comments??

My 12wk girl staffie is also called Monte and although there is no much whining.... there is a lot of cheekiness!! We find the squeaky toys distract her to the point that she thinks its a bird or something and goes straight for it Can she see outside from the play area, I'm by no means expert but with Monte if she hears birds and sees outside she easily forgets what's going on around her.

all that info is great!! I think my expectations are a bit high I will put all this into practice and will let you know. Also she had her first little walk around the block this morning and as my husband put it 'it was not a success' it was then when I said to him we really have to take it easy with her and expose her to a lot but not expect the world. Also I can't believe how they can look at you in a way that make you feel so bad. How do they do that?

Hi Guys, I'm please to say that we finally got our beautiful red girl staffie we wanted. Her name is Monte and she has been with us for a week now and she is nearly 11 wks old. She is really placid and content to be with us around the house but when I say us I mean my husband and I because my poor son (8yo) he has had to pretty much be away from her. She sees him and that's it, she loses it. She starts to 'bite' his pants, his socks. At the start he would sit on the floor and just try to pat her and hold her but she just wants to go at his hands, his feet anything she can grab with her teeth. After all the research and reading all the posts here, from the start I said to him, to stand up and say NO in a firm voice even give her his back but it just doesnt work because even when he is just sitting down on the couch watching tv she will go up on the couch (clearly not allowed ) and start pulling off his socks and do her thing he obviously pushes her off and it all becomes ugly with me trying to get socks of out of her mouth... a full on power struggle. This has happened a few times this week and it's the first week! When we were seeing this starting I would straight away giver her a kong toy with liver treats inside so she can get distracted but you can see she wants his hands or feet. So far she has left a few marks on his hand from her teeth which really scares me. He now avoids her and the whole excitement of the new puppy in the house has become the opposite for him. She will be starting puppy school in about three weeks and my husband and I have been very active with her giving her toys and training her with treats. She now sits before feeding and coming into the house, although we have a doggie door she has already mastered. She also has been really good with toilet training with only a few accidents inside and she is JUST so PRECIOUS!! Apologies for the long post feeling a bit disheartened at the moment. :p

Thanks for that picture. Its the colour we are after too. I'll use it for reference cos that is exactly what we want to get. I have contacted about 50 breeders so far. Few have gotten back to me and it's amazing how everybody knows eachother. I have received good comments and really bad recommendations too which is great because we have been looking long enough now and we won't be bitten twice as they say. please for us so we can find her soon but if not, I'm not going to rush perfection!!

I guess that's what got me. All the pictures of puppies at her age way off of what she looked like on the day. And the doubts were always there but our eagerness got the best of us. Bentley is one beautiful boy!!

guys.. hope so... I can't deny im feeling a bit dissapointed and sad but it's all for the best and there is not rush. ( i keep tellig myself!!) All your comments and assistance have been great!!

Hi guys. After speaking to my OH we decided to withdraw from the sale. I contacted the breeder and although she was surprised she didnt sound as dissapointing as I thought she was going to be. We've lost our deposit but it doesn't matter. There were a lot of doubts to begin with and I want to be 100% sure of what i'm getting. Thank you all for your suggestions and comments. There were all at the back of my mind but we were so excited we lost sight of the main thing really. Back to square one!!

We didn't really get a chance to see the other one. It was in a travel crate waiting for the other family to come. We are paying $800 for this puppy and we've already placed a $100 deposit.

none taken... but chihuahua?? way far from what we are after... no offence to chihuahua owners out there.... here are some more i took on the day.

this is the puppy we are getting from the breeder. we took the photo on the day we saw her, thats my husband holding her. i can see the difference from the photo above thouhg, she was not as plump as the picture at all and that's five weeks! i think im having second thoughts about all this. thanks for all the comments, please keep them coming.

Really?? Do you guys agree?? I couldn't really confirm cos we haven't seen the parents. She's sent me pictures though.

This was taken on 1/8 and she was seven weeks then according to the breeder. I haven't asked her actual birth date. why??

A picture so you guys fall in love with her like we have. We took it when we briefly saw her.

She brought only two puppies with her in those travel crates and kept them in the car. There was us and another family coming to see them. She had already chosen the puppy for us and for them. We got there and we held her for about five minutes, she asked us a couple of questions and we gave her the deposit. All pretty straigh forward I guess.

thanks guys for all the suggestions. The puppy is tan colour and we've only paid $100 deposit. She actually said they might have gotten the chills because of that same day she brought them out to the park to show it to us. It was a cold day. The symptoms she said are diarrhea and weight loss. She said they are still running around and being active.