Niques

Oh, BF, I'm sorry. I missed your post about your daughter when I posted before. That's awful for you and your family but I'm glad to hear that she's looking better and hopefully recovering well. Nicola, Oreo would be such a cute name!

Bluefairy, that's brilliant news! How exciting! I'm sure the weekend can't come soon enough. We were hesitant to pay more for dog stuffed toys but ended up getting a couple during a sale and it was worth it. I have an immense collection of old stuffed toys and the plan was to fob them off on the pup, but the way James tries to tear his elephant apart I'm glad he has made-for-dog toys. Have been feeling a little guilty so far this week - I accidentally poked him in the eye last night and felt so, so awful about it, and today I've moved his vaccination from next week to Friday. But, he spent literally hours playing with our neighbour today and had a ball, and puppy preschool starts next week and I know he's going to love it. He's such a social little guy.

I have a pup who does the same thing. He'll sleep through to anytime between 4:30 and 5:30 for his morning toilet stop and will then cry until I let him out for the day at 6am. I think ignoring her is your best bet. It's been 2 weeks since he came home and the past night or two, J. has just finally started reliably taking an hour long nap after toileting instead of crying. And I found myself towards the end of last week managing to sleep through (and even oversleep a touch) his crying, so there is hope Fortunately, the neighbours of ours that I've spoken to are very understanding and tolerant (luckily! - from inside the garage, pup can be heard crying halfway down the street!!), but if yours have problems, I'd suck it up for a week and let her cry inside until she's learnt.

Thanks, Sandra He has soft toys, ropes, rubber toys, old palm fronds, etc. as well. And he enjoys munching on rocks But yes, we're definitely in need of more work in terms of his people chewing habit :D It was really his whimpering before chewing that had me concerned and thinking teething - any idea why he'd be doing that?

I have a labrador pup who's normally quite the chewer, but the past day or two he's gone into overdrive. I thought we'd been making a touch of progress re: chewing people but he's started at it more frequently and much harder. He normally has a half-hearted chew at wooden furniture if he's lying next to it, but he's now started actively gnawing on it. He's also, just yesterday, started occasionally making a small moan or whimper before he starts biting hard on something which is what has put the teething thought into my head. However, he's only just 10 weeks old and I was under the impression that teething normally started happening at around 4 months? Does this sound like teething? Are there any obvious indicators of teething to look out for? And if it is, any helpful suggestions for making it easier on him? He has ice to chomp on, frozen vegetables and frozen drink bottles. Anything else I could use? Ta

Casey is beautiful! Very cute and quirky markings. Porthos is adorable! I love their names - excellent theme

Great photo, Bluefairy! I'm with Jax, action shots are impossible for me. Hell, even stills are hard with a black dog - it is so hard to try and position him in relation to the light so he doesn't look like a big black blob with no details. But you've captured the action really well, Bluefairy! That's very exciting about the pup, BF! Congratulations to your husband on his bonus and fingers crossed he receives it in time! JaxD, they're so cute when they wriggly and excited, aren't they? We make James sit for attention within the family (he'll be so big in no time it's a sort of necessity to stop him bowling us over), but sitting for visitors, I imagine, will take a long time for us. Speaking of which, he's getting really quite good with his "stay" as well. I can now go into the fridge about three quarters of the time without worrying that a puppy's trying to crawl in at the same time

My sympathies - I've had a couple of accidents with James because, although I knew he needed to go, I thought I had enough time to quickly put something away or finish up with something. Lesson learnt! No advice on the crate training as we're not crating, but in terms of odour, we've been using vinegar on the floor to remove the smell for him. You could try wiping out his crate with it and adding a dash to the wash with his bedding.

Wow, congratulations, MAD! My sympathies to your partner's family, but what a fortuitous meeting with your little girl! And so well behaved on the drive home. Has she been named yet?

CruiseNRoxy, Hemi's adorable! Look at that fuzzy fur! I'm happy for you that you've been able to find a new companion after your loss. JaxD, Badger has the sweetest face. He look so knowledgable, haha. His puppy preschool story is hilarious! Glad to hear he had a ball. Bluefairy, good to hear that you're okay!! I finally got the excited "Oh, you're home, you're home!" reaction for James yesterday. I was gone all day, poor chap, and he was so thrilled to get out and have a chase; he could not keep his tail still! In other news, I have to stop thinking about his toilet training progress! Everytime I have the thought, "gee, he's been doing well lately", he'll go and have an accident two minutes later. Also have to get him out meeting new people. We had a run-in with the neighbour's dog yesterday when she ran away from him coming home from the walk. She was lovely and just gave James a sniff before trying to investigate our house, but James got so excited when the neighbour came up to give him a rub. I think we've been a bit lax with people exposure.

Jed, I've no idea about her current dog, but the two dogs that the fine relates to were both unregistered, for starters. I'm sure she said on the news that she couldn't afford the original fine - can anyone confirm that? Ignoring the licence issue, the mere facts that she owned two dogs for whom she obviously would never have been able to afford any potential vet fees for, left one in the pound and now has a new dog are disgusting. Back on the issue. She's had 3 years to deal with the fine - whatever gets it paid.

Wilbur would have been so cute I'm not sure if James' breeder used his name. She knew of it from the get-go, but which of the two black boys was ours wasn't decided (by her - I'd had him picked out in my mind since the second visit ) until about a week before he came home. Not to mention that there were 10 pups so I imagine there wasn't a great deal of opportunity for individual name usage.

Hope it's nothing serious, Bluefairy! What a night. Pup woke up at 4:30am for his toilet break (normally does it an hour later). I had a feeble hope that he'd go right back to sleep after, but he barked for the next hour I felt terrible for the neighbours. Sleeping is the thing he does well!

I think you're right! James will do a wee outside and 5 minutes later there'll be another one inside. Unbelievable He's really good with his poos, as well. You can always tell when he needs to do a poo as he'll make a little squeak and race to the door He does his squeak outside as well if he's not happy with the location I've selected. Well done, Badger, sleeping through the night! I've given up trying to delay my guy's bedtime - he didn't sleep until 10pm last night (aside from an hour nap at 8pm) and was still up at quarter to six. So I'm thinking I'll stop complaining about his falling asleep at 7ish ;) How's everyone's pups going with learning their name? James won't react at all, no matter how much training I do to have him look at me. Probably doesn't help that I call him Puppy all the time....

That's great that you've found an alternative you're happy with, Bluefairy! When are you thinking of approaching breeders? Flynn sounds like a boy of routine! Happy to hear he's settling in. No Kong ideas, I'm afraid. James still isn't keen on his. He'll fish out anything he likes (i.e. dried liver and cheese) and then ignore it. I think I'll freeze it for him next time he's home alone. Congrats on having Boss home! That's excellent that Lola is having fun with him - hopefully she'll bring his sleeping into line in no time. James has a bladder of steel! Again, he held it for 5 hours today while I was out. Why he can't do this when we're at home is beyond me, but I'll take any good news I was very worried today - I had no idea it was going to be so bloody hot and the garage has little airflow. I think pup gets the aircon left on in the next room from now on.

Poppyx, Briar Rose is a pretty name! Welcome, Costa's Mum! I hope the next couple of weeks fly by for you. That's great to hear that he's getting well-socialised with the breeder's other dogs! Happy birthday for the 19th, Bluefairy (and your OH)! Your daughter sounds lovely Thanks for the input on seeing the vet, everyone. We don't have any specific concerns and he's already met his (potential - there's one other in the practice who does small animals) vet as we're friends with them. I think we'll just hold off til his 12 week vaccination. James is a firm fan of rose bushes. How he hasn't been scratched or cut his mouth yet is beyond me, but he loves curling around them, chewing on the wood (thorns and all) and eating the rosebuds. He had lovely rose breath the other day

Aww, how sweet James has discovered the art of licking, so I've been slobbered to death today. When he's not trying to chew the buttons of my shirt, that is. Poppyx, I'm sorry to hear about the delay ;) Have you picked a name for your girl yet? Jangels is such a squishy little guy! Happy 9 weeks to him! We considered going for a yellow lab at one point, but black was the original idea so we decided not to waver. Yellow labs have the most expressive faces though! Our breeder sent out a slideshow of piccies from the pups' first 8 weeks and all the photos of the yellow puppies are just wonderful. James too, turns 9 weeks old today! We finally got around to weighing him and freaked out that he was underweight until some googling was done, and apparently he's spot on He's finishing most of his meals now and I think is actually chubbing up a little. Must keep an eye on that. Has anyone's puppy seen the vet yet? James' next vaccination isn't until the end of the month and we've been tossing up whether or not to give him a general checkup beforehand.

Jangels is exceptionally cute! Hope KritalJay's night is going well! JaxD, Badger sounds like he's coming along very well with his training - clever little guy! Well, compared to the terrible morning, I had a lovely afternoon with James. He's suddenly clicked into affectionate mode and is adorable. His toileting was brilliant - he would sit outside the laundry door for both poos and wees, whereas previously it's just been the former. Although saying that, we were just writing an email update to his breeder earlier about his toileting progress and he started doing a wee on the floor in front of us Cheeky bugger. And we had a really good afternoon training session - he started to get the basic gist of "stay" and his "come" is improving! How was everyone else's day?

I'm excited for you, KritalJay - can't wait for photos! FD26, well done, Joker, sitting already! And that's so cute that he's skateboarding I'd love to see a video of that. Sorry to hear about no great progress in Badger's toilet training, JaxD - he'll get the hang of it in no time James has toppled a potplant (trying to chew on it), shredded the part of the bin liner that hangs over the top, put a scratch in my foot and attempted to chew up my younger brother's sports uniform (whilst he was wearing it) so far today. His biting is so frustrating - I had to put him in his pen so we could have a break from my shouting. He's been quite a bit better since coming back up though. I've been making an effort to pop a toy in his mouth everytime he goes for the kitchen chair, the couch, my hand... His toilet training has been excellent though. No accidents for a day or two. I think he's getting extremely good at holding his bowels and I've gotten a bit better at reading him. Plus, he's starting to get into the habit of hovering outside the door when he needs to go. His basic commands are a bit dodgy though. He won't "come" at all unless we're in the midst of a training session, in which case he'll come whether he sees I'm holding a treat or not. He sits wonderfully, provided you can get his attention. I'm trying to work on "stay" for when his food bowl goes down.

^ James is just the opposite. Allllways asleep during the day. With a break for lunch and short periods of play. I've heard it's fairly standard for labs to sleep so much...thankfully! Hah, I'd go insane with an always awake puppy. Toilet training is going well for us. He's not a very attached puppy though, which I think is the problem with trying to stop his biting - he genuinely doesn't care if we ignore him.

Ruby is very adorable in her new collar! She's such a tiny little thing - too cute Aww, Hector on his tiger is so sweet. So is the Maverick and Hector picture! Sleeping is continuing to go well. Biting, however - worse.

Well done, Joker! James had a good night as well - slept through from 7:30pm to 5:30am. I was amazed - I'm sure he had a full bladder when he went to bed. I was expecting to be up again within an hour or two. He also had his first big stay at home alone today! And he did brilliantly! He didn't go to the toilet in his pen (for 5 hours!!), but as soon as I let him out he just didn't make it to the grass and did a colossal wee on the edge of the driveaway. It went forever. I'm both very proud and a little guilty - I wish I could teach him to go on the newspaper in his pen if he needs to. He also didn't freak out at all when I came home. Instead he just picked himself up and hopped back into his bed. I'm a tad (irrationally) put out - is it too much to ask that he miss me at least the first time I leave him for a long period? Ah well, I'm hoping it indicates that we've trained him in his pen well, rather than lack of attachment. His biting is driving me insane though. I think he's started biting harder and I feel like I'm always yelping and telling him "no". I feel bad having to say it so much, but god I wish he'd just stop it already. I bought him a car harness today - he's off to visit the vet's puppies this arvo and he's ridiculously squirmy in the car. I popped it on him to adjust the size and he could not keep it out of his mouth. Rrr, very frustrating. My brother's middle name is James as well - had to give him a call to check that he didn't mind sharing a name with a dog

Sorry to hear that Lily! Fingers crossed there were more pups hiding from the ultrasounds. Maverick'sMission, he's gorgeous! A very nice looking dog. I love the name Hector! Did anyone else have troubles picking a name for their pup? We struggled to reach a consensus and James was really the only one we all agreed on, although it wasn't anyone's favourite. Funnily enough though, James' brothers all ended up with names that had made it onto our shortlist: Bruce, Harry and Barney.

Congrats on having Jangels home! We never really considered anything but a labrador. Beagles were mentioned at one point but they seem to have a less sturdy temperament by reputation. And we're really larger dog people. It's funny, I consider a labrador a "normal" sized dog. Anything smaller is small, anything larger is large. Yet every person (I'm not exaggerating, I mean everyone) we've told about James has immediately said, "You know they're big dogs, right?". Utterly bizarre. So they're a good size, brilliant temperament, shorter haired, handsome little devils and up for a run/swim. Perfect dog And they're clever - we wouldn't consider one of the less "intelligent" breeds.

James did a poo inside this morning (I had noted that he wanted to go outside but was in the middle of cleaning where he'd dragged his chicken mince across the floor - too slow, again!) and I did have a think to myself that it was an excellent consistency to pickup! Didn't even stick to the floor. I bury his outside poos so this was the first time I've had to do the pickup. I don't think he slept in his semi-crate last night. He was on the floor when I went to bed and out on the floor again when he was crying for his toilet stop, so it seems he's only keen on it upstairs as his day bed.