koalathebear

Well he's on three meals right now and he's not going to be left alone and on two meals for another couple of months or so - but the US forum seem to think that it's never ok to leave a dog alone in the yard regardless of age And if I'm feeling annoyed and defensive right now it's because I can't help wondering why rabid dog owners attack people like us for the way we look after our puppy just because it's not the way they would do it - why not reserve their ire for people who mistreat their dogs or dump them? *shrug* In its own way, over-spoiling your dog is form of cruelty.

Thank you - the differences in viewpoints are s exactly what I've noticed as well. DOL members love their dogs just as much as the US forum posts and yet many are still able to take a pretty robust view of dog care. I know I have to develop a thicker skin but it's just that trying to raise a well-adjusted puppy is already hard work and sometimes it feels like EVERYONE is criticising your approach with the dog - too strict/too soft/too whatever ... While I understand that a very young puppy should always be supervised - I'm baffled at the thought that the dog is supposed to be supervised ALL the time even when it's not a puppy anymore. Our view is that a kelpie/bc isn't supposed to be a pampered lap dog - we are giving him heaps of love and attention but we need him to learn how to spend hours away from us without imploding for his own benefit as well as ours. We're pretty happy with his progress because while he honks and whines a bit when we leave, he's always very settled when we return and not overly manic and hyper even though he's clearly happy to see us again. We've been trying to keep departures and arrivals pretty low key and make sure he gets lots of together time when we're home. Kelpies aren't normally supposed to be so affectionate, but Elbie's a bit of a sook

Finally, a degree of success. Elbie's still doing it a bit fast but he is doing the "are you shy" gesture in response to a verbal command. We will work on getting him to cover his eyes more and keep his paw there longer. We are still having difficulty getting him to crawl because he just wants to leap to his feet and chase after the food rather than crawl along.

Heh heh. You're right. It's just that there's no absolutely right way to do it and some people seem to think that they have all the answers to raising the perfect dog and if you deviate from their way, then you are WRONG.

I am feeling very upset/frustrated ... We think that we're pretty good puppy parents - or at least trying to be. We've got Elbie crate-trained and house-trained, he's stopped biting, he's a very loving and affectionate little puppy. He's clearly very clever - you can see here that even before attending obedience classes, he has been a very receptive learner from youtube videos! We've been able to spend a LOT of time with him because we're both temporarily off work. That being said, that was just luck on our part and this is reality so we're going to have to go back to full-time work soon. He's 14 weeks now, he seems pretty good in the backyard (which we have puppy-proofed) and to try to get a better idea of what he does when we're at work, we have been monitoring him on a web cam for the trial periods that we are leaving him at home in the yard. We will be switching him to two meals a day soon as we can't come home at lunch to feed him. This means he's going to be alone at least 8 hours in the backyard while we're at work. We'll give him two walks a day, we'll play with him but we do both have to work. Growing up - this was normal. Dogs were dogs and most dogs I knew hung out in the backyard even if they were allowed in the house. As I grew older, more and more people chose to keep their dogs inside for part of the time but most people I knew still kept their dogs in the yard unless they were lap dogs. Although Elbie does sleep through the night in his crate, he will be in the yard when we're away and in the house when we're home. Sometimes if we're just heading out for short trips, then we'll crate him for a maximum of 2-3 hours - but even with a larger crate, given that he's kelpie/bc, I really think it's better for him to be in the yard then crated. I'm a member of a US dog community on discussion forum and when I first mentioned even considering leaving Elbie in the backyard unattended, I received a LOT of criticism. Fortunately I found this thread here at DOL that made me realise that at least in Australia, it's still not unusual/uncommon to leave your dog alone in the yard if it's puppy-proofed. So far, we've only left him in the yard for 4 hours unattended but when we are working our way back up to 8-9 hours in preparation for work. There just aren't other options - we can't come home at lunch to release him from his crate for an hour and we don't want to get other people to do have to come and do it for us. Elbie's our responsibility and we want him to get used to our lifestyle. When people on the other forum heard that we were intending to leave Elbie alone, these are the comments we received: and and and and and What blows my mind is that they're not even just talking about puppies - they are talking about DOGS - even when they're fully grown. I realise that all sorts of bad things can happen when a dog's left alone but my view is that for every scenario and situation, someone has a horror story. There is no perfect way to raise a dog. All we can do is try to create a safe environment in the backyard so that when we're not around, Elbie can sun himself, run around in the open air and roll in the grass as he pleases. Did anyone else get condemned when they started to leave puppy alone in the yard when going to work? The thing is friends and family who are OFFline think that we're babying/spoiling Elbie and keep reminding us that he's a dog and a working dog at that We didn't make the decision to get a puppy lightly - we did consider time and financial constraints. We have been trying to make sure we're at home with Elbie during the formative months but I don't think that being a dog owner means that you crate your dog all day, make sure that you have a job that allows you to come home at lunchtime or give up your job altogether ...

We brought him a cushion but he keeps ripping it up so we have to reintroduce it to him gradually. He loves the blankets and cushions in his crate and dog bed but the kennel is still not entirely his cup of tea yet. The software is here: http://www.vitamindinc.com/ and you just need a web cam :D

We made a conscious decision to get a young puppy while we were still on a break from work so that we'd have time to spend a LOT of time with him in his early months. The thing is, we're both heading back to work soon and while we will do our best to make sure Elbie gets to two walks a day plus a lot of intellectual stimulation - we are going to be leaving him alone for 8-9 hours a day while we're working. Elbie's now fourteen weeks and we have left him alone in the past for brief stints - 1-2 hours alone in his crate or in the backyard. He seems to have done fine. A couple of times earlier on, he went his crate but that was just an unfortunate accident, I think. Since then he's been pretty good. He's not happy at all that we're going, but while he'll yowl for a bit after when we leave - he seems to settle down nicely because he's usually napping when we get back. Today we left him alone for four hours - the longest yet. My boyfriend found a software called Vitamin D which lets us film Elbie while we're away. It only films movement etc and the file sizes are actually very small all things considered so it was handy to see what Elbie got up to while we were away. What we most wanted to know was: - how much did he cry/bark? - did he get up to destructive behaviours? It seems like . I've uploaded 10 minutes of "Elbie-Cam" over . Nothing enthralling happens - which is good

Very true and puppies seem to want to try to eat EVERYTHING. We've just bought a new house and before we can let Elbie run around in the backyard, we have to puppy proof it. No easy task given that before the sellers moved out they seem to have dumped all their rubbish in the backyard - little bones, cigarette butts, small broken plastic toys, LOTS of blackboard chalk, foam, bubble wrap ...

Aiieeeeaaaa!!!! You have scared me to death Seems like EVERYTHING you give a dog needs to be given under supervision!

Latest photo of Elbie. We've been trying to teach him to do the "are you shy?" gesture from this thread. His fur is too short to attach a clothes peg so we tried peanut butter. Unfortunately he didn't even notice the peanut butter on his face and we just ended up with a puppy with peanut butter on his face We tried tape on the side of his face fell off but we found so we're having more success now putting rolled up sticky tape ABOVE his nose. We're hoping he'll be able to do the trick properly soon.Things he can do so far - all learned from youtube videos because we won't start obedience classes until 20 June. ( ) . He can do a more sedate spin but I love his athletic, crazy dog spin here ( )Here is Elbie-Cam - what Elbie gets up to when left alone.

We're having a degree of success with getting tape, making a loop and sticking it above his nose where there's less fur He's making some progress - will post a video when he finally succeeds

I recommend you try the other methods of stopping your puppy from biting before you try the one that we ended up using when we were desperate. The other ones (discussed in more detail in the link above) are: - yelping/yipping - stopping play - time outs - grabbing by scruff of neck etc etc. Although none of those worked for us, many other people have had success. For us, we had to use a water spray bottle - which is something we really didn't want to do. It's not a good thing to use negative training techniques on a puppy, especially if the puppy is shy. Fortunately for us, Elbie's very confident and bouncy so a few sprays in the face were enough to deter him from doing it again. I think your puppy is too young for a water bottle The risk with the water bottle is that your puppy could realise that as long as you don't have the water bottle, he has free rein to bite you Elbie's not like that - we were lucky that he seems to be deterred from the biting now even when we don't have the bottle to hand Each puppy is different and different things work on different puppies.

Hi there - we just had the same problem with Elbie and have received a lot of helpful comments here: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=194979. Perhaps you'll find something helpful there. It's a very recent thread so it might save everyone posting the same replies I've been going through and reading the puppy help threads and a HUGE number are from desperate puppy owners trying to stop their puppies biting so I'm sure the old hands must be getting weary of answering the same question To our relief, Elbie has finally stopped his biting. He went balliastic for about two weeks and would not stop attacking and biting. We even had scratched faces and bitten lips and chins! Now, he's stopped biting although he still jumps up - but he's getting better. Good luck!

Wow, there are so many differences of opinions about bones, rawhide ... pigs ears ... Seems like the only safe bets are kongs and rope chew toys!!!

I would go for a stuffed Kong or something similar rather than a big bone. He loves his kongs already but he gets through them pretty quickly even when they're frozen! We just thought/hoped that a bone would keep him occupied because he LOVED the pigs ear we gave him before. We don't want to give him any more pigs ears though even though they kept him occupied because: 1. they're fatty 2. they're bad for him 3. they made him HIDEOUSLY FARTY. Seriously, for such a tiny puppy he was letting out some ghastly smells We didn't want to give chicken bones because we've heard so many horror stories about them - choking and salmonella and all that sort of thing.

We don't want to give him chicken bones - the idea is to give him a big bone that's going to keep him occupied but not having any choking hazard. He chews on rawhide bones but only under our supervision - we would never leave him alone with one.

He's about 6.5kg now. About 35cm from butt to collar - and a very lean little kelpie/bc

Elbie's now 14 weeks old and appears very healthy. To keep him entertained in the yard, we'd like to buy him a nice big bone. I've seen the prepackaged bones in the pet store and supermarket but they look like they've been preserved and treated to the nth degree. I was wondering whether we can just get something 'fresher' from the local butcher. If so - what should I be asking for specifically? I don't want to give Elbie the wrong thing and make him sick. Also, presumably the butcher shouldn't be charging us an arm and a leg (bad pun intended) for the bones? Thanks so much in advance.

Thanks for all the tips! He's doing well so far although we're still having trouble with his 'stay' and 'peekaboo' gesture See here for our current failed attempts at teaching him how to do the 'shy'/'peekaboo' gesture We're really looking forward to starting formal obedience with him.

Alas, this didn't work for us. At night, when he's lying down - Elbie does little 'shy' motions that we call peekaboo but despite saying good boy the second he does it and trying to reward him, we haven't been able to get him to do it on command. He has short hair so the peg wouldn't work and his fur is very shiny so tape and stickers all fall off him - in any case, he doesn't seem to notice their existence :D He adores peanut butter but he didn't even seem to notice the dab on his face. Photographic proof below. He tried to beg, shake hands, do a high five in order to please us but just couldn't catch on that we wanted him to do a 'shy'/peekaboo gesture ...

Elbie is 3/4 kelpie and 1/4 border collie cross. We've read about the different types of vaccinations: - annual injection: we've read bad things about this so will not be asking for this - daily tablets: could be ok, but perhaps a little annoying - monthly meds Our preference is for heartworm medication that is given on a monthly basis. Given that Elbie's 1/4 border collie, does anyone know of any reasons why we should be staying away from monthly meds or daily meds? I've read that collies (not sure about border collies) can have allergic reactions to certain heartworm medications. Admittedly, Elbie's only 1/4 bc so maybe he would be all right anyway, but we would prefer to use the safest heartworm prevention med.

Hee! I'm glad because we I have to say that we often feed him first and then while he's snoozing off his meal on his dog bed, we take the time to eat our meal Eating first while he sits there staring at us with puppy dog eyes isn't so much fun

I've read so much about how you should never, ever let your dog eat before you because then h'ell lose respect for you or think that he's the alpha dog Also the whole 'don't let him go through doors before you'. We try to make sure we eat first and also make sure we go through doors first, but sometimes we forget and he darts through the door first. In terms of food, sometimes because of this or that arising, we end up eating a bit later than usual and think it's unfair to make Elbie wait so long for his meal so we'll feed him at his usual time of 6 or 6.30pm. Is this really a big deal that we have to worry about? Some sites make it sound like we're damaging his psyche forever ... Of course we'll try to make sure we eat before him if it otherwise means we're creating a psycho or something.

At first nothing helped for the night screaming - we had a clock, radio, chew toys etc. Only the fingers in the grate helped You sound a little luckier with your puppy. Also, even though we had our puppy in our bedroom near the bed the first three nights, he still cried. So we put the crate on a box right next to our bed - high up enough so that he could see us/hear us. It also made it easier for us to reach him to put our fingers in his crate. We only had to leave our fingers there about 10 minutes and he calmed down and fell asleep. Yes, these days, Elbie goes into his crate voluntarily - he has day naps there, plays there and sometimes when he was in trouble or pissed off, he'd make a very affronted sound and flounce off into his crate to sulk The way you make it tempting for him is to put comfy blankets/dog pillow in there, his favourite toy and we'd sprinkle some treats in the crate. The crate should also be placed near where you hang out during the day so that he doesn't feel lonely and can be in his 'den' while still close to you. Not all dogs take to crates but Elbie adores his.

Thanks very much for the information about that. That will work out just right then because hopefully he'll already be used to just two meals a day by the time we return to work. We received so many warnings about the kelpie/border collie mix before and after we got him that I was starting to be terrified we'd got a monster. This was probably one of the scarier warnings: Buying a small flock of sheep?? On the downside, he is HUGELY energetic and when he gets into turbo mode he'll race around like a little fiend and used to go into biting frenzies - which have thankfully now stopped. On the plus side, it makes him very eager to learn things so for instance while beg and rollover took AGES to teach him, he learned shake hands and high five almost the first time around (I've updated my first post with links He's been going to puppy class for two weeks and I think he loves it. Alas, the other dogs are: a very large bull terrier, a VERY large rhodesian ridgeback/rottweiler cross, a HUGE six month old boxer puppy, a terrified Cavalier King Charles that sits there and does nothing and an anxious screaming schnauzer. He gets to play with them but the larger dogs are quite rambunctious and the other two dogs are so terrified they don't interact much. Furthermore, only the schnauzer can sit and drop and the boxer can sit but not drop - the bull terrier won't even sit so the class is still stuck at the sit-drop stage and we aren't going through any new tricks. It has been good for meeting new people, new dogs and a new setting, though. For training, we've turned to youtube in the interim. He has puppy classes for another two weeks and then on 20 June he'll be starting formal obedience classes at the Belconnen Dog Obedience Club. We're really looking forward to that because we think he has the potential to be very good. His current behaviours that we're really like to address are: - learning to be calmer at home. Even though we get a lot of visitors, he gets VERY excited when people visit the house and sometimes does a happy wee. - when he's in turbo mode it's still hard to dial him down except to tell him to 'sit', 'go to his mat' or 'go to his crate' and even though he remains quite keyed up - he gets anxious in the car and just won't sit still - he is a wriggling, squirming, excited ball of energy. Sometimes he even cries, which is a bit upsetting. I should mention that it's embarrassing at puppy class because while all the other puppies aren't very good at the obedience component of the classes, during the indoor 'classroom sessions', they all sit pretty quietly in their owners laps while Elbie's wriggling and squirming to be let down and almost strangling himself by trying to pull on his lead and collar towards the other puppies. Both my partner and I have had our faces accidentally scratched by flailing claws and teeth I'm not sure if kelpies can be trained to be very calm all of Elbie's negative behaviours stem from when he's in hyper turbo mode. We do! He makes us laugh all the time and he is super cute even though he's a LOT bigger now than he was when we got him. I updated the post above with a link to his photos