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Thanks again - that's given the some good options to try! I really appreciate everyone's help ;)

A big thank you to both of you! I've also heard that Canigen is basically the same as Nobivac and a local vet uses that so I'll get confirmation otherwise ill head down to Kedron. Thanks again!!

Hi everyone, I know the topic of vaccinations has been covered in detail, but after lots of searching on here I haven't been able to turn up what I'm looking for, so I'm hoping someone else might be able to help.... Our current dog was vaccinated as a puppy using Nobivac which allowed us to get him out and about at 12 weeks to socialise. That was 2.5 years ago in Sydney. We're getting a new pup to add to the family who will be 11 weeks when we pick her up and I wanted to have her vaccinated using Nobivac so we can again start to socialise sooner rather than later. I'm waiting to hear back from the breeder as to how the pups are to be vaccinated but I suspect they will be vaccinated using the 3 x vaccination protocol (the more traditional method - if that's the right way to describe it). So my two questions are: - After calling around to 8 local vets, no-one locally seems to use Nobivac on the QLD Sunshine Coast - does anyone know of a vet either on the Sunny Coast or North Brisbane that uses Nobivac? - Can you still vaccinate using Nobivac if the pup has started on a different vaccine or is it not effective? Appreciate any advice.... Cheers!

Hi I would like to have my pup vaccinated with the Nobivac vaccination at 10 weeks but would be great if someone had some recommendations for a vet that offers this vaccination in the Sydney Inner West area. I've called a few vet's and no one seems to offer it? Any thoughts? Cheers

Hi all... I'm hoping for some advice / reassurance on whether I'm doing the right thing with our new puppy. Neither of us have had a dog for around 15 years and back then we were both teenagers living with our folks who were more in charge of raising our respective dogs than we were. So, I've bought loads of books and checked out heaps of websites and it's pretty hard to work out which theory is the best to follow. In any event, based on what we read we thought we could probably go ahead and buy a puppy. Now we have a 8 weeks old Mini Dachshund male which I've had for about a week. When I made enquiries and bought the pup I was on the understanding he was 8 weeks old but when I worked out his date of birth he was actually 7 weeks old when we got him. Not ideal from all accounts but that's the way it turned out. In any event, he does seem to be settling in reasonably well and the first day he was a bit whiney and the first night, well, he was a lot whiney. I've tried very unsuccessfully to introduce him to a crate to sleep in but he's not interested. During the day he'd tried mostly to sleep either on my feet, right on top of me or tried crawling up on my lap. I wouldn't allow any of those things (he's cute so it was difficult! lol) but when I put him in the crate he'd stay in for a few minutes and then come crawling out or whine like it was no tomorrow. I ignored it but he seemed more comfortable sleeping in a small dog bed where he can see us. So my first question is, does he really need to be in crate to sleep? I know there's this denning theory but he just doesn't seem interested in getting in it and seems to quite happy to curl up in his bed. My second question is kinda about toilet training. At the moment, he's living inside full time and the long term view is that he'll be outside when we're not home but I feel he's too young and too little be out in our courtyard just yet. So, he has a playpen for when I need to do things around the house and he has a gated off room (now the bathroom) for overnight. I've got a pet loo that have inside (just the turf component) which I'm trying to toilet train him on. My theory is that if he uses it now that when he's older that's what he'll use when he's outside. At the moment, when he's near the turf he's pretty consistent with doing wee's and poo's on it (he misses the edges occasionally) but when he's out in the lounge room I have to watch him like a hawk to make sure he doesn't eliminate in the lounge room as he doesn't seem to seek out the toilet area. Am I missing something here or is it just a time thing and eventually he'll seek it out? Finally, he hates being put in his playpen or behind the gate. He howls and howls and we're doing our best to ignore the behaviour and giving him lots of praise when he's quiet (which is rare). Neither of us make a fuss when we put him there and we leave some chew toys and treats behind to make it seem more pleasant but he hates being away from us. He's not howling as much (or for as long) as previously, so I'm hoping I just have to give it time - any advice on this one? As I said before, it's been a long time since we've had a dog (we've had a cat instead - both of them now get on well and have taken to wrestling pretty much continuously) so I'm really worried that I'll screw it up and end up with neurotic dog! Thanks in advance for your thoughts!