PoppyDog

My OH and I have spent a LOT of time and money on securing our yard. When younger Poppy got out a few times but hasn't for at least 8 months. With the flooding disaster she got used to having us home all day, every day! Her idea of heaven! On Friday I had to go to work, she went into the neighbours yard and chewed their little boys shoes! Lucky we have lovely neighbours! He works on a building site and brought us home more bricks to block up the gap she dug! Today at 4.45pm my OH gets a call from the lady up the road...she has Poppy! I told my boss I had to go (lucky I have a lovely boss) and raced home to a lovely Mum and her 3 little girls who were doting over Poppy! Her idea of heaven! So it got me thinking...maybe I should advertise on Gumtree for a stay at home mum who would be happy to have Poppy at home with her 1 or 2 days a week? OH works shifts so between the two of us Poppy will only be home alone 3 days this week. It's never more than 4 days a week. But she really is an inside doggy and just LOVES to be with people... WDYT???

We've never applied for a rental with Poppy. We got our place and then applied to have a pet and were approved. My question is for those who rent with dogs do you think being approved with 1 dog is easier than being approved with 2? It's the main thing that is putting us off getting fur baby number 2... WDYT?

He is soooo cute! Look like a lovely doggy and such a character! What breed is he?

Here's pics of her nose. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5876...mp;id=517749910

Thanks SAS. I found this on EBay? http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Vetbasix-Sunscreen-...=item1e60776573 Is that the type of thing to buy?

Yeh, I think her longer coat does make it tricky! But I'm happy for her to be lean. I remember meeting some pure Cavs at the dog beach and they owners were so friendly coo'ing over Poppy! But the first thing they said was "Oh look, a skinny one!" Haha! Needless to say their cav's were a little on the round side!

Here is one that shows her body quite well. She's doing her favourite "Must sniff dog on T.V" trick! Lol! I will ask my vet next time I see her. She will be due for her 12 month booster vax soon. I posted about puppy dry food VS adult dry food just before her 1st birthday and got mixed responses. Basically the general theme was it's up to you when you change over between 12 and 18 months. I noticed Super Coat had "Junior" and "Adult" and that completely confused me. If anyone can explain the difference between the two and which one I should be buying then I''ll grab a bag next time I shop and start mixing her food and swapping her over.

She's a crossbreed. Her Mum was a CKCS x Poodle and her Dad was a CKCS. She is very much like a CKCS but bigger in terms of height and weight.

Poppy is 13 months old, still on puppy dry food and last time I weighed her was 12kg. I think she would be heavier now but only a little. I worry that she is a bit too skinny? She has 1 meal a day. 1 cup of dry food and an individual serving of Natures Gift wet food. Or sometimes instead of the wet food she will get a raw egg, some left over human food (cooked mince, steak or chicken) or just dry food. She gets treats in the form of carob drops, shmacko's, raw hides and sometimes bones (although I haven't given her those in a while). Anyway when I run my hand along her coat I can feel her ribs but can also feel some flesh. And you can't see her ribs. I can also feel her hip bones near her bum. She is happy though and I know it's important for her to be a healthy weight, not chubby! I see mostly chubby dogs so I don't have a healthy dog her size to compare her with! WDYT? *NB - I know people have lots of varying opinions on WHAT to feed but this thread isn't really about that*

Poppy's nose isn't completely black. Each of her nostrels has a small pink patch about the size of pea. We get lots of comments about how cute it is but today I noticed one nostrel is a but red and scaby. So I'm wondering if I need to be using some sort of sun protection on her nose? She was in the yard all day Friday and I'm thinking this is when she may have been sunburnt. I'm pretty oblivious when it comes sun protection for doggies...Do I need pet suncream or can I use human stuff? Do I put it on EVERYDAY without fail or only on days I know she will be outside? I don't want her getting skin cancer later in life! Thanks!

Just wondering if anyone has managed to rent a unit or townhouse with a small dog? Any tips of where to look or such places? Any tips of ways to enhance the chance of being approved for a rental with a pet? Thanks!

For the past two nights I've woken to Poppy making these horrid gagging/gasping/choking noises in her sleep. As soon as I spring out of bed and say her name she's awake and breathing normally and fine! But mans the sounds are horrible! Is this something to worry about???

Miss Poppy is turning one on the 6th of December and from what I've been told it is from age 1 that they can have adult kibble? So my question is how do you make the transition? Slowly? Mixing it with the Puppy Kibble? Or can you just make a straight switch from Supercoat Puppy to Supercoat Adult? Thanks in advance!

I don't think Poppy would let me ice it for long. Its stuck in her fur too so even if I iced it I don't think it would come away! Bloody litter bugs!!! :D Hmmm, I think I will wait for it to grow a bit then try chopping it again! Like I said I got the majority of it out of her paw! Might need to buy Poppy some doggy flip flops for next time we go to the beach!

Today while brushing before her bath Poppy I noticed some brown stuff caked onto to her hind paw. I thought it was a bit of dirt caught up in her coat and so when I bathed her payed special attention got that paw. It didn't seem to come away during the bath so afterwards I sat down with a little pair of scissors to try and cut the gunk out. Upon closer inspection I realized it was chewing gum! It had the peppermint smell and I assumed she must of stood on it when we went to the beach yesterday! Anyway I snipped as much of it out as I could but there is one tiny bit that is so close to her skin that I can't get to it. Any ideas???

Yeh, I was worried it would get tangled with the other dogs...We were swimming near two big brown dogs (forgot to ask what breed they were...looking like ridgebacks but not sure that they were) and they were so friendly....one came up and had a cuddle with me! Ah yes! That could work. I'm not worried about other dogs sniffing her (she is the submissive one and if a dog ever snapped at her or told her off she would just roll on her back or walk off)...I'm worried about her running so far away and not coming back! Haha! She's never done that before....but it still worries me. Other people musn't have these same fears. There were puppies off lead, big dogs, little dogs etc etc etc... Does anyone know if the beach at the spit of the Gold Coast is FENCED? And if it has nice calm swimming water like Currumbin does?

Poppy and I went to the dog beach at Palm Beach Parklands today. Was the 4th or 5th time we have been. She really enjoyed herself this time! Was so much more confident! Last time she would splash in the water by just walking in it. I took her in a couple of times with me previously and she would swim straight back to the shore, shake off and roll in the sand. She seemed to like the water but was unsure. Today I got in up to my waist and she followed swimming around me and even going a little further out than I was standing. :D She LOVED it! I had her on leash most of the time. Even in the water....and here is where my questions come... EVERY other dog was off leash and so of course Poppy wanted to be off leash too. She would pull and whine. I took her off leash for maybe 10 minutes but was SO uncomfortable the whole time. She stayed close and when she ran about 5 - 10 metres away I called her back and treated her. Then she lay down in the sand all tired! So what do you do when you go to an off leash area? Like the beach? There were puppies off leash, little dogs, big dogs etc so it wasn't just well trained dogs with 100% recall. I think I need to get a LONG leash....THat would allow her more freedom and me to be comfortable???

Oooh! This looks great! Do you swim with your dogs? Or do they just go in? How does it work....not sure that Poppy would just hop into the pool without me! Lol!

So Poppy is 11 months old now (almost 1!) and she is beautiful!!! She has the best temprement and personality! We love and enjoy her more than we ever thought was possible. But there is one thing I have been wondering about... She often barks at cars driving past (we have a big 6ft wooden fence), people walking past, people walking their dogs. She barks when someone knocks at the door (just one bark) then does her crazy "I'm so excited we have visitors" bum wiggle. She also barks at ANY animal on the T.V. Mostly dogs. Like the dog on the toilet paper ad, the dogs on Bondi Vet, RSPCA Animal Rescue and the animals on the optus ad etc! It's not excessive barking. And when I call her she comes. If I go to her and say "SHHH!" she comes and is quiet. I guess I'm wondering if I'm teaching her the right thing. I don't mind her barking. If someone comes into our yard or to the door. But I don't think she needs to be barking at the TV or at people OUTSIDE of our yard. Last night we had a BBQ and when she went to bark at something I would call her back, tell her on her bed, drop and then praise and treat. I was trying to re-inforce that I wanted her to be quiet and relaxed. Am I doing the right thing? Any other tips of advice? :D

Aww! Lovely photos!!! I love your little Cav puppies! I wanted to comment on how puppy clucky your thread in the breeders section made me but couldn't!

Did we read the bit about not confusing the newbie??? But seriously! I thought comfortis was a spot on. But it's not? So should I: Use Spectrum Sentinal with a spot on like Advantage? OR Use Spectrum Interceptor with a spot on? OR Use Spectrum Interceptor with Comfortis? With regards to treating fleas properly we do. We use the Sential chew religiously once a month. She is bathed fortnightly (with Aloeveen - should I change to Malseb?). Her bed is washed weekly with our towels. We vaccum regularly, at least once a week. We only have Poppy so no other pets need to be treated. She is very much an inside dog so my only guess is that she is picking up fleas from the yard. KJ - Poppy has been a but dragger, itcher, scratcher, foot chewer for as long as I can remember. I would go as far to say from the day we got her. If I wasn't someone who took dog ownership seriously and spent time on forums like this learning all I can learn I might think that her behaviour was normal. Dogs scratch and itch and chew and drag their bums sometimes. It's my understanding that if I choose to take out pet insurance now and wait the 2 - 4 weeks before seeing a vet about the issues then they will cover it. In the meantime I will work on the fleas & food! :D

Don't feel silly, the person who suggested that should - bloody hell A dog who is allergic to fleas doesn't even need to have any fleas living on them - they can just be bitten as the Flea jumps. Fleas can bite humans and do alot of the times, are some people more sensitive to flea bites to others...yes....just like anything else. If you find fleas on your dog then treat the dog and consider thhis could be causing an allergic reaction. Just head to your Vets. Okay guys! Lets not confuse the newbie! So fleas are not breed specific and if she was infested (I really don't think she is) they would be biting us/in our bed/on our carpets. I don't deny that she may have the occasional flea or two and will definately double up on flea treatment to see if that can help with her itching and scratching! Poor puppy! I feel bad! I never realised the Spectrum would only stop them breeding, not stop them being on her and biting her!

Fleas are "breed specific" hence the incidence of them biting humans is very slim indeed. I knew of someone who owned a red heeler....this poor dog was infested with fleas literally! That dog was never bathed.....until one day I literally took it home, bathed it and treated it with Revolution...! The dog was occasionally allowed to sleep on their bed and I never heard that they got bitten once.....I wish they had...just quietly! Interesting. I didn't know that! All this time I had thought if Poppy had fleas then they would also be biting us, be in our carpet & our bed. But they never are! I feel so silly! I always try and look for fleas on her. Hence why I have spotted the odd one a couple of times and given her a capstar. I always see them crawling along her belly. I've managed to kill the one I've seen but have treated her aswell since there could be more than just one on her. Will definately be buying the comfortis AND spectrum tomorrow. She is due on the 1st of Nov. Could I give it to her now? We will be away on the 1st and she will be with the pet sitter?

I'm glad to hear you say that Natures Gift isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things. Someone on here actually reccomended it to me which is why I decided to try it to help tempt her to eat the dry food! I buy the small single serve ones and she get's 1/2 of that once a day. I think my first plan of attack will be to get comfortis AS WELL as the Sentical Spectrum or Interceptor. And see if that stops the itching! Is it possible that she has fleas and that we don't see them/get bitten by them? She sleeps on our bed and we have never had any problems with us getting bitten. I will also look into getting pet insurance and then go from there!

I totally agree that the flea thing is something I need to get on top of. Like I said, am changing the treatments I use so fingers crossed that works. Your probably shake your head at what I feed but am going to be honest so here goes... She has Supercoat Puppy at dinner (1 cup) with 2 tablespoons of Natures Gift wet food (have only just introduced this - about 2 weeks ago as Pop's had gone off her plain dry food). She also gets meaty lamb bones, chicken thigh pieces, liver treats, carob chip dog biscuits and has in the past minced chicken carcess & chicken necks. She also sometimes gets bits of watermelon & apple. Occasionally I'll give her a little bit of what we are eating (obviously don't do this if I know its bad for her - but have given her bits of sausage, steak, mash potato, rice etc in the past). I'm not overly careful with what I let her eat but maybe I need to become strict and see if that helps? She is due to change from Puppy to adult food (don't you do that at 12 months?) so maybe I need to consider a better quality dry food? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.